will answer that law or be accepted by that law or that that law will justifie us upon that Obedience No no for it is only the obedience of Christ that answers that law removes the Curse of it and merits Pardon for our breach of it but the meaning is that whereas God might in justice after Man's wilful fall have insisted upon the very terms of that law which was violated he was pleased in his abundant free grace and rich mercy for the sake of Christ to declare by the new Covenant that now he would accept of the sincere Obedience of poor Sinners and account them Subjects united to Christ and as such having right through him to Pardon and Life which is his justifying of them Now because not only such as profess themselves Socinians but also those that pretend to be Enemies unto them do deny the Covenant of Grace to be purchased by Christ exclaiming against me at a great rate and saying O he is wrong in the very foundation he holds Christ hath merited the Covenant of Grace when it is only the free gift of the Father I judge it a fit place under this head a little more fully to correct the Socinian Spirit in these Men who yet know not it is any such thing that they are in the least possest with and this by clear proof from Scripture that Christ hath purchased this Covenant That then which constitutes the Covenant of Grace betwixt God and Man is God's gracious promise on his part of the gift of saving benefits to Man and Man's engagement on his part through the grace of God to perform all that which may give him right unto and interest in the promised benefits Now if I prove from Scripture that there is no saving benefit which God promiseth to give unto Man nor yet any grace which is required of Man to give him right unto and interest in these benefits but Christ hath purchased them I hope I shall sufficiently have discharged my province in proving the Covenant of Grace to be purchased by Christ 1. In the first place let us consider the benefits that by God are promised or offered in the Promise to Man and as we go along prove that they are purchased by Christ 1. God promiseth Justification Isa 45. 25. In the Lord shall all the seed of Israel be justified and shall glory Christ hath purchased Justification Rom. 5. 8. 9. But God commendeth his love towards us in that while we were yet sinners Christ died for us Much more then being now justified by his blood we shall be saved from wrath through him 2. God promiseth reconciliation and peace Isa 27. 5. Or let him take hold of my strength that he may make peace with me and he shall make peace with me Christ hath purchased this Rom. 5. 10. 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 life Colos 1. 21 22. And you that were sometimes alienated and enemies in your mind by wicked works yet now hath he reconciled In the body of his flesh through death to present you holy and unblameable and unreproveable in his sight 3. God promiseth remission of Sin Isa 43. 25. I even I am he that blotteth out thy transgressions for mine own sake and will not remember thy sins And this is purchased by Christ Matth. 26. 28. For this is my blood of the New Testament which is shed for many for the remission of sins Ephes 1. 7. In whom we have redemption through his blood according to the riches of his grace 4. God promiseth Redemption Psalm 34. 22. The Lord redeemeth the Soul of his servants and none of them that trust in him shall be desolate Christ hath purchased this Redemption from Sin Titus 2. 14. Who gave himself for us that he might redeem us from all iniquity and purifie unto himself a peculiar People zealous of good works From Hell and wrath 1 Thes 1. 10. And to wait for his Son from Heaven whom he raised from the dead even Jesus who delivered us from the wrath to come From the Curse and Condemnation of the violated Law Galat. 3. 13. Christ hath redeemed us from the curse of the Law being made a curse for us for it is written Cursed is every one that hangeth on a tree From the power of the Devil Heb. 2. 14. Forasmuch then as the Children are partakers of flesh and blood he also himself likewise took part of the same that through death he might destroy him that had the power of death that is the Devil 5. God promiseth Adoption 2 Corinth 6. 17 18. Wherefore come out from among them and be ye separate saith the Lord and touch not the unclean thing and I will receive you And will be a Father unto you and ye shall be my Sons and Daughters saith the Lord Almighty And this is by Christ merited Galat. 4. 5. To redeem them that were under the Law that we might receive the adoption of Sons 6. God promiseth Eternal Life John 3. 16. For God so loved the world that he gave his only begotten Son that whosoever believeth in him should not perish but have everlasting life Christ hath purchased this Ephes 1. 14. Which is the earnest of our Inheritance until the redemption of the purchased possession unto the praise of his glory Rom. 5. 21. That as sin hath reigned unto death even so might grace reign through righteousness unto eternal life by Jesus Christ our Lord. This I have proved that the rich benefits promised by God which are his part of the Covenant are purchased by Christ I will proceed to prove also that what Grace is required of Man to give him right to and interest in these benefits of the Covenant is purchased by Christ 1. We cannot have right to nor interest in any of the above mentioned benefits without Repentance for without Repentance we must perish Luke 13. 3. I tell you Nay but except ye repent ye shall all likewise perish Christ hath purchased this Acts 5. 31. Him hath God exalted with his right hand to be a Prince and a Saviour for to give repentance to Israel and forgiveness of sins And for certain Christ gives nothing but what he hath purchased or the Spirit for this end to work it 2. We cannot have right to nor interest in any of the above mentioned benefits without Faith he that believes not the wrath of God abideth on him Now Christ hath purchased this Philip. 1. 29. For unto you it is given in the behalf of Christ not only to believe on him but also to suffer for his sake 3. We cannot have right to nor interest in any of the above mentioned benefits without sincere Obedience which is virtually included in our first consent to be the Lord's Heb. 5. 9. And being made perfect he became the Author of eternal Salvation unto all them that obey him And this
by us as that we oppose them more than any of our Adversaries who account themselves such great Antipapists yea and are further of from the Papists herein than they for upon the principles our Adversaries go in the point it cannot be avoided but they make that Law which injoins perfect sinless Works which as such condemns us all to be God's Instrument whereby he justifies seeing that they say the matter of their personal justifying Righteousness not only meriting but qualifying or else they oppose not us observe that must be that which is every way perfect in the sense of the violated Law of Innocency And indeed were we to be justified by that Law we must say the same with them So that let any Man who is not altogether prejudiced against the cause judge whether those Men be not much nearer the Papists in this point than such as they charge to be one with them for the Reverend Persons named above and others with them proceed in this point upon another Principle then either the Papists or such as profess to be their Adversaries holding God's Covenant or Law of Grace to be the rule of judgment and so the Instrument by which God doth justifie us or that by which God doth justifie for the sake of Christ's satisfactory and meritoriorious Righteousness when by the Grace of God we are conformed thereunto which Conformity consists in a turn from Sin and an unfeigned consent sincerely to be Obedient unto Christ and his Law to our Lives end upon which God doth account or reckon us Righteous in the sense of the Gospel and so such who have that right unto and interest in Christ which impenitent and disobedient Souls have not and this for the Righteousness sake of Christ as I have sufficiently proved And whereas Readers some Persons would bear you in hand that we give Repentance and Faith the place Office and use of Christ's Righteousness and look to be justified only by this as inherent 't is either an Ignorant or Malicious slander for we say that although the Lord Jesus hath satisfied offended Justice and merited all saving priviledges yet we can neither have peace with God nor right to Christ nor his purchased benefits nor be accepted of God through Christ until we be qualified with that Grace the Gospel requires which Grace doth not give us the right in its own Nature or as it is inherent but as God accounts and reckons it to do so that is as he imputes it for Righteousness The Papists place Justification in the Infusion We in the Imputation Whatever you hear therefore from Adversaries or read in any Books that is or shall be an indeavour to prove these forementioned Persons or others of their mind to be one with the Papists in the point of Justification you may assure your selves 't is nothing but a slander and the slanderers are nearer themselves in the point to the Papists until they have fully proved that we whom they abuse do hold the four particulars I have mentioned above which I am sure they cannot do so long as they have a Tongue to speak with and if they cannot all their attempts against us are in vain and not to be regarded for if they do not this they do nothing to invalidate our Doctrine and therefore I desire you Readers to observe this that if any Answer be made to mine that you will see whether in the pretended Answer it be proved that I hold the four things above mentioned and if you find they prove not that which they are not like you may assure your selves their Answer is none M. S. An Advertisement WHereas the Author of this Book seems warm against the Righteousness of Christ being the formal cause of our Justification and argues that if it be so then it must be the Believer's proper personal Righteousness which those Divines who say that Christ and the Believer do so coaless into one Person that his Righteousness is transferred to them upon that account must assert and if it be his personal Righteousness his Person being not seperable from his Nature which is himself then he must be the subject of Christ's Righteousness and consequently it must be inherent in him as the subject thereof the candid Reader is to observe First That he drives the Argument thus home for conviction only of his Adversaries who know that Imputed and Inherent is a Contradiction Secondly That he understands well they need no driving to a concession that his Righteousness therefore is not and cannot be the Believer's Physically but they say Legally only and by Imputation nevertheless so long as they say it is imputed so as to be his formal Righteousness the Absurdity remains Thirdly That to hold Christ's Righteousness to be the Believer's or accounted his legally or in a Law-sense so as God looks on him as having fulfilled all Righteousness in Christ as our legal Person is that Doctrine which Mr. Baxter hath set himself to oppose in all his Books as such which subverts the Gospel and he that will go about to maintain it must Answer his Arguments which I suppose cannot be done by any Lastly That if the more Judicious of his Adversaries would consider a little more of the matter and come to be content with such an Imputation of Christ's Obedience as answers the End of his performance of it which is that upon our believing Men shall enjoy the benefits then would they soon find out the right knowledge how to give a fair construction of what is said by former Divines who agreeing in this that there is indeed an Imputation of Christ's Righteousness to the Believers but because it is not express in Scripture they not considering or mentioning any such distinction are misconstrued to understand an Imputation in se when there is indeed or can be no such but Quoad fructus aut Effectus only By the Hand unknown aforesaid THE TRUE NOTION OF Imputed Righteousness AND OUR Justification thereby c. SECT I. The Subject Matter proposed SEeing the apprehensions of Persons are so different about the Doctrine and Nature of Justification and so much depends upon the having a right notion hereof At the intreaty of some of my Friends for their satisfaction and for the benefit of others I shall God assisting with all possible plainness declare my Sentiments in this particular 1. I do believe that by and through the satisfactory and meritorious Righteousness of our Redeemer the Lord Jesus Christ a Covenant of Grace hath been purchased for and granted by God unto sinners after they by their sin had violated or broken that Law which injoined perfect sinless works and thereby made themselves incapable of performing obedience to that Law which at the first it required as a condition of life and so of having Justification thereby Heb. 12. 24. Christ is called the Mediatour of the new Covenant and that because he hath purchased by his death a grant of pardon and life by
be saved and thine House Therefore the Reason given is of no force for the strict Imputation of Christ's righteousness 7. Christ's righteousness say they must be our only personal justifying righteousness because it is that which God accepts on our behalf I Answer If they mean that God accepts the righteousness of Christ on the behalf of Believers so as to account it a sufficient satisfaction for them and the merit of all good which they partake of and that for which he accepts all their sincere duties I grant them the whole But if they mean God so accepts it on their behalf as to account it to be the very righteousness of their Persons by which their Persons are righteous according to the Law of Innocency this I deny and they can never shew any solid proof for what they affirm 8. Christ's righteousness say they must be our only personal justifying righteousness because Christ was a publick Person standing in the place and stead of all those that should believe in him so that all that he did and suffered are to be looked upon and are reputed by God as done and suffered by them and consequently are imputed to them I Answer That Christ did sustain the Person of a Mediatour for the making atonement and purchasing reconciliation I grant but that he sustained the Person of all those as a sinner that should after believe in him this I deny seeing then he should have been accounted the offending party and so as such had been incapable of purchasing and making peace betwixt the offending and offended For he that is accounted guilty and so an offender should have needed a Mediatour and reconciler for himself but this Christ did not therefore to tell of Christ's being a publick Person in this Sense is false and not only so but destructive of his Office as Mediatour and so also of his Satisfaction and Merit as is manifest And whereas it may be said How could he have suffered if by the Law he was not accounted guilty and an offender I Answer The Law did not account Christ as guilty or an offender nor did it ever condemn him but on the contrary it accounted him a righteous Person not considering him at all as a Mediatour or Surety and justified him as a fulfiller of it both in Nature and Life and therefore he was under no obligation at all by the Law of Innocency to Suffer but the obligation was from the Law of Redemption or Mediation by his own free and voluntary susception according to the paction betwixt him and the Father The just suffered for the unjust that he might bring us to God If just then by what Law was he just He that is just in Law by that Law that accounts him just as such he cannot be accounted guilty or an offender but Christ was just in the account of the Law of Innocency Hence therefore that which they would gather from Christ's being a publick Person must fall with its foundation for neither the Law nor God by the Law did account that Christ did so personate Sinners as to reckon what he did and suffered they did and suffered What Christ did and suffered it was accounted to be done and suffered for us but not accounted to be done and suffered by us for if so then God should accept satisfaction immediately from us and not from Christ and God must account us immediately to have merited and not Christ i. e. Christ should only be accounted by God as the means whereby we satisfied his Justice and merited Life for our selves for if all that Christ did and suffered be by God reputed as done and suffered by us then I ask for what end for that which was done and suffered by Christ was satisfactory and meritorious now if Christ obeyed and suffered for this end that God might account what he did and suffered to be done and suffered by us then Christ must have obeyed and suffered for this end that God might have satisfaction from us and that we by his means might merit a right to Life Can they prove this thinkest thou Reader 9. Christ's righteousness say they must be our only personal justifying righteousness because we cannot be justified by it any other way than by God's imputing it to us as such I Answer If this be so there must be no Justification of a Sinner at all for no Sinner is nor can be formally personally righteous with Christ's righteousness and therefore God doth not account him to be so as hath been proved above 10. If we may truly be said to be dead and crucified with Christ to be quickned with Christ to have risen again with Christ to sit in heavenly places in or with Christ c. then may we be said to have fulfilled the Law with Christ also and consequently the fulfilling of the Law by Christ is imputed to us and accounted ours I Answer The Scripture it is granted saith concerning true Believers that they are dead and crucified with Christ c. But what are they said to be so properly and personally Did they lay down their natural lives with Christ and aâ—ise in his rising again unto a corporal and glorified Life Or did God account them so to have done in Christ when he knows they did not If not as is plain then the meaning is by way of efficacy and likeness Christ indeed hath merited the Holy Spirit and this Spirit is given for the sake of his Merits unto his People by the power and efficacy of which Spirit sin is mortified the Heart crucified to the World and the Soul made alive to God raised from a Death in Sin to a Life of Grace and Holiness and the affections are set upon things above where Christ sits at the right hand of God from whence results a Christian assimulation or likeness to Christ in his Death Crucifixion Resurrection Ascention and Exaltation But what ground from hence to draw such an inference i. e. that we have fulfilled the Law in Christ's fulfilling of it Plain it is no ground at all but the consequence leans to that false supposition that what Christ did and suffered God accounted us to have done and suffered which beside what hath been said already if true then God must account us if Believers to have been born of a Virgin in a Stable to have been circumcised to have disputed with the Doctors in the Temple at Twelve years of Age and to have been subject to Joseph and Mary as our Parents to have been baptized by John the Baptist to have wrought Miracles c. in Christ But who will say this if none then all must hold the thing supposed formerly by many must be false and if they will let the notion go the consequences are none of theirs 11. Christ's righteousness say they must be our only justifying righteousness because all are and continue Sinners while they live and therefore cannot be personally righteous but by God's accounting Christ's righteousness
e. Justification is God's asserting and maintaining act by his Law of Grace of our right to Pardon and Life for the sake of Christ upon our believing 1. It is an act and that ad extra an act which makes a relative change and the subject upon whom this relative change is made is Man a guilty and condemned Sinner one upon whom the sentence of condemnation is passed by the Law and he under obligation thereby to suffer eternal punishment this is Man's condition antecedent to God's act of justifying Rom. 3. 19. Now we know that what things soever the Law saith it saith to them who are under the Law that every mouth may be stopped and all the World may become guilty before God Galat. 3. 22. But the Scripture hath concluded all under sin that the promise by Faith of Jesus Christ might be given to them that believe John 3. 18. He that believeth on him is not condemned but he that believeth not is condemned already because he hath not believed in the name of the only begotten Son of God Ephes 2. 3. Among whom also we all had our conversation in times past in the lusts of our flesh fulfilling the desires of the flesh and of the mind and were by nature the Children of wrath even as others 2. In this act of justifying there is the term from which or the state from which Man a Sinner is brought upon his Justification and that is from an obligation to punishment and the omission or loss of right to Life and Happiness Every poor Soul before Faith is under an obligation to Eternal Punishment and must lose Heaven and Eternal Happiness if he leave the World in this condition How much then should it be our concern to see that we have true Faith that we have thankfully accepted of and are sincerely subject unto Christ that so we may have through him a right to Pardon and Life John 5. 24. Verily verily I say unto you He that heareth my word and believeth on him that sent me hath everlasting life and shall not come into condemnation but is passed from death unto life Rom. 8. 1. There is therefore now no condemnation to them which are in Christ Jesus who walk not after the Flesh but after Spirit 3. In justifying there is the term to which or the state a poor Sinner is brought into and that is a right to this Pardon and Life spoken of before No sooner is a Sinner justified but Pardon and Life are his they are by Gospel or Covenant right his John 3. 16. For God so loved the World that he gave his only begotten Son that whosoever believeth in him should not perish but have everlasting life and Verse 36. He that believeth on the Son hath everlasting life and he that believeth not the Son shall not see life but the wrath of God abideth on him 4. There is the agent or he that justifies and that is God we are before Repentance and Faith guilty and condemned and until God do justifie us we remain in that guilty and condemned state therefore if ever we have a right to Pardon and Life God gives it Rom. 3. 26. To declare I say at this time his righteousness that he might be just and the justifier of him which believeth in Jesus Rom 4. 5. But to him that worketh not but believeth on him that justifieth the ungodly his faith is counted for righteousness Rom. 8. 30. 33. Moreover whom he did predestinate them he also called and whom he called them he also justified and whom he justified them he also glorified Who shall lay any thing to the charge of God's elect it is God that justifieth 1. Hence learn first how much we should adore and admire the riches of mercy in Christ that after we had greatly offended him and exposed our selves to his wrath and displeasure everlastingly having involved our selves in a state of guilt and condemnation having forfeited all right to Life I say that after this all this yet he should be willing to become our justifier the forgiver of our Sins and the Donor of a right to Happiness and this upon honourable terms with relation to himself and reasonable with respect to us How much doth this call for our Admiration and Adoration certainly it will be the work of Heaven 2. How great folly are poor impenitent Sinners guilty of for though God be willing to justifie ready to pardon and receive into his favour and make over unto them a sure title to Erernal Life if they will but now humbly come in upon his call and thankfully accept his Son to be their Propitiation Head and Teacher and be subject to him in Christ yet they refuse they hold fast deceit and will not return they set no value upon this great good offered they prefer their Soul damning Lusts and the Profits and Pleasures of a vain transitory World they content themselves to live unforgiven at enmity to God Heirs of Hell destitute of right to Life and Salvation O what folly How much is the condition of such to be lamented who chuse death before Life guilt before Pardon execution in Hell before the fruition of a glorious rest in Heaven God calls them to incline their ear and come unto him hear and their Souls shall live and he will make an everlasting Covenant with them even the sure mercies of David Isa 55. 3. he assures them by his promise that if they will forsake their wicked ways and sinful thoughts he will have mercy and abundantly pardon Verse 7 but alas all this moves them not they are still as unconcerned as before 3. That Justification is not from Eternity For any to affirm this is to affirm a contradiction i. e. that we were both guilty condemned and justified from Eternity for who now are justified but such as before were guilty and condemned so that first God condemns us from Eternity as guilty and then justifies us from Eternity according to these Men touching what they alledge i. e. God's purpose and decree they may as groundedly gather from it that Persons are effectually called from Eternity conformed to the Image of Christ and glorified from Eternity 5. In the description I say it is God's act by his Law of Grace it is not by an immediate but a mediate act that God justifies seeing it is God's act by this his Law and that it is will appear further if we consider that we can neither be justified by the Law of innocent Nature nor by the Law of Moses And if not then by some other Law for as condemnation is by Law so Justification As disobedience then to the Law of Grace brings upon us condemnation so obedience to the same Law gives right to Pardon and Life which is Justification If so be that Sinners remain impenitent unbelieving Rebels against Christ by this Law they are condemned but on the contrary if they through Grace become Penitent Obedient Believers then this Law intitles
though the publication of it was but in time and the actual conferring of the benefits as the vertues of the Covenant of Redemption and Christ's performance his actual performance of the conditions of it were but in time yet these did not hinder that Covenant from being everlasting 5. I believe saith he that as Christ was chosen and constituted the Covenant head of his People and the Covenant made with him as the person undertaking so the Elect were therein given to him by the Father to be redeemed as his People Children Seed That there is a number according to the Election of Grace I grant and that all the Elect were given by the Father to the Son in the Covenant of Mediation to be redeemed by him not because as he intimates they were in his People Children and Seedâ— by meer Election but that they might be so by Redemption and the participation of the benefits thereof Ephes 1. 4 5. According as he hath chosen us in him before the foundation of the world that we should be holy and without blame before him in love Having predestinated us unto the adoption of Children by Jesus Christ to himself according to the good pleasure of his will Titus 2. 14. Who gave himself for us that he might redeem us from all iniquity and purifie unto himself a peculiar People zealous of good works I deny not Election but do not lay that stress upon it as to think the chosen of God are thereby constituted his People and Children as though Redemption by Christ and the work of the Spirit of grace upon Souls were not necessary Christ is the head of the Covenant of grace made betwixt God and his People in and by him as the Purchaser Efficient Author and the great mean of conveyance of all good therein I grant but then that such a Covenant as this should be made with Christ this I deny for this Covenant is a Covenant of reconciliation and it was not Christ but poor miserable Sinners that needed peace with God Whatsoever this Man thinks I am certain according to the Scripture that the Elect themselves before effectual vocation are enemies to God both in Heart and Life I speak of the Adult 1 Colos 21 22. And you that were sometimes alienated and enemies in your mind by wicked works yet now hath he reconciled In the body of his flesh through death to present you holy and unblameable and unreproveable in his sight and if so as is manifest they must be so wrought upon by the blessed Spirit to give their consent to be subject to God as his Children and Servants before God after a special sort be reconciled to them as his Friends and is there not implied in this their renouncing their former Masters the World the Flesh and the Devil and devoting themselves to God and his service sincerely upon which for the sake of Christ God becomes by promise their Sin pardoning God and reconciled Father and is not here a Covenant in form struck betwixt God and them of which Christ though he be the head in the sense mentioned above yet he cannot be a party 6. I believe saith he the Covenant of grace was made with Christ the second Adam and with all the Elect in him as his Children and Seed As the Assemblies Catechism saith It must be granted him the Assembly saith the Covenant of Grace was made with Christ as the second Adam and in him with all the Elect as his Seed But if it be as they say then that which they call the Grace of God manifested in the second Covenant in their Answer to the following Question must be given to Christ for with whom a Covenant is made of what nature soever the Covenant be to him must be given that which is promised in that Covenant upon his performance of the conditions so that if the Covenant of Grace be made with Christ then God must provide and offer to him as a Sinner a Mediator for this is one part of the Grace of the second Covenant and Christ must be obliged to perform the condition of this Covenant which the Assembly say is Faith to interest him in this Mediatour and this Covenant must promise and give the Holy Spirit to Christ as the Elect to work in him that Faith with all other saving Graces and to enable him unto all Holy Obedience as the evidence of the truth of his Faith and thankfulness to God and as the way which he hath appointed him to Salvation But seeing the Assembly do apply expresly this Grace of the second Covenant to Sinners of mankind the Covenant of Grace must upon a practical Faith he made with them and not with Christ unless this Man will say and prove this Reverend Assembly do contradict themselves And if so it is a wonder he should make what they say in this particular an Article of his Faith I would have this considered by the way i. e. did not Christ freely engage himself to be a Mediatour and so oblige himself to fulfil the Law of Innocency violated by Man make himself a Sacrifice for Sin to satisfie God's Justice and so merit Pardon and Life now was any of mankind in this same Covenant and bound under the same obligation with him If any say yea then they must be under obligation as well as Christ to do and suffer to satisfie and merit Christ if not then how could Christ and any of mankind with him be in the same Covenant for to be in the same Covenant must needs be to be under the same obligation If it be said Christ bound himself freely to do and suffer all this for us we deny it not but what is this to prove That Christ and we were in the same Covenant and so bound in the same bond Let it be proved that ever Christ was under a Covenant of Grace and that he was dealt with in a way of Mercy and not in a way of pure Justice and will any say that God's dispensations towards his People are in a way of justice and not in a way of Mercy 7. I believe saith he that as Adam was a publick Person and common head in whom his posterity were to stand or fall Rom. 5. so Christ as a common head and publick person is the head and Representative of all the Elect in whom their state and standing is sure and safe so that they shall never fall nor finally perish I grant all that are given by the Father to the Son shall come and that being brought over effectually they shall have persevering grace John 10. 27 28 29. My sheep hear my voice and I know them they follow me And I give unto them eternal life and they shall never perish neither shall any pluck them out of my hand My Father which gave them me is greater than all and none is able to pluck them out of my Fathers hand And that this their standing is secured by the merits and
How much more shall the blood of Christ who through the eternal Spirit offered himself without spot to God to purge your Conscience from dead works to serve the living God And for this cause he is the Mediatour of the New Testament that by means of death for the redemption of the transgressions that were under the first Testament they which are called might receive the promise of eternal inheritance Heb. 7. 25. Wherefore he is able also to save them to the utmost that come unto God by him seeing he ever liveth to make intercession for them But it may further be said for I shall deal fairly and let him have what advantage upon the point he can He speaks only of the righteousness of both natures united in Christ and intends this is not imputed I Answer there cannot be the imputation of the active and passive obedience of Christ in his sense without the Imputation of this for consider we his obedience in Life and Death as the obedience of one who is not God Man united and so essentially infinitely righteous as God and perfectly in his nature righteous as Man that obedience could not be the obedience of Christ but if we consider his obedience in Life and Death as the obedience of one who is God Man united in one Person and so essentially infinitely righteous as God and perfectly in his nature righteous as Man then if it be imputed in this Man's sense it must be imputed as the obedience of such an one and how can the righteousness which constituted him a â—it Mediatour not be imputed when the acts as they are the acts of such a Person a Person so and so qualified are imputed And were Christ's acts any further satisfactory and meritorious than they were the acts of such a Person as he was If not then take away that which qualified and made him meet to be a Mediatour and see then if his acts in obeying and suffering can be satisfactory and meritorious and if the Persons have satisfactory and meritorious acts imputed unto them in this Man s sense then that which makes them such they must also have imputed And if they say they have not the righteousness of Christ as satisfactory and meritorious imputed then they must not have it imputed at all and consequently deny all imputation of Christ's Righteousness in any sense which I do not for as I have said above if we could take away from Christ's Righteousness which we cannot it 's satisfaction and Merit that which remains with respect to our Justification and Salvation will be none of his But further saith he it is the acts works doings and obedience of this blessed Mediatour that are imputed and counted to the Elect for their justifying Righteousness Mark if God do impute or count the very acts works doings and obedience of the Mediatour to the Elect for their justifying Righteousness or as he saith in this his Article to be the material and formal cause of their Justification then God must account them to have that Righteousness which in its own nature is a Mediatory Righteousness for such were Christ's acts as Mediatour to be their personal justifying Righteousness Now if any Man be accounted formally righteous in his own Person with that Righteousness which in its own nature is Mediatory then he must be counted to be righteous personally with such a Righteousness as is satisfactory and meritorious after an infinite sort and if he be one that is personally righteous with a satisfactory and meritorious Righteousness and this of an infinite value for such was and is Christ's then how should he chuse but be Godded with God and Christed with Christ and be accounted to have that whereby he may be a Redeemer Saviour anâ— Mediatour both for himself and others yea to have Christ's Office wholly put into his hand now I have so much charity for this Man though he be my professed Adversary and for others that have the like notions with him as to believe that they do neither hold nor intend these consequences which are so gross but they themselves lead me by their hot opposition to shew that these are the unavoidable consequences of such a Doctrine if peradventure they may be convinced It is out of doubt with me that many good and gracious Persons have imbibed and stuck to this notion of the strict Imputation of Christ's Righteousness in it self who yet have abhorred the consequences that have been natural therefrom But then their practice hath ever contradicted this notion and hereby they were kept in the way of safety But then I think it somewhat dangerous when God hath set up before Persons more clear light and yet they are so hot in their opposition as that they will not take time to consider whether it be light from the word or no but almost upon the first hearing or upon a very slight trial cry out Popery Quakerism Arminianism Socinianism and what not Suppose we now that such as pass under any of these names do hold this or the truth what must it be a sufficient Argument for me to relinquish that truth because they hold it for my part I do profess to the World let Men think and say what they please that I am for Catholick truth that is truth where-ever or in whomsoever shall be owned by me so far as I can have evidence for the Devil himself believes that there is a great dreadful and terrible God and I believe the same and am certain in that I do well James 2. 19. And I must not therefore because the Devil believes this turn Atheist But after these Men have done what they can they can never make that they oppose into what they fain I am afraid would 13. I believe â—aith he that by this obediential Righteousness of Christ all the Elect of God are or shall be freely justified from all things Acts 1â— 39. for it is by the obedience of one and not by the Faith and Obedience of many that many are justified and made righteous Râ—m 5. 19. Observe the Scripture Acts 13. 39. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 that believe are justified and he saith all the Elâ—ct 〈◊〉 seems he likes not this Scripture expression his Wisdom thinks another better and therefore for all that believe he puts in all the Elect perhaps he is for Justification before Faith and so thinks Elect a term more agreeing to his purpose than believe and he thinks not far amiss if that be his notion but then it might be asked from whence he had his dispensation for such a change I believe according to that Scripture Acts 13. 39. that by Christ and his satisfactory and meritorious Righteousness all that truly believe are justified from all things from which they could not be justified by the Law of Moses i. e. according to the Covenant of Grace have a right to Christ Pardon and Life purchased by him and also I believe the truth of that Text Rom. 5. 19. that
by the obedience of one i. e. the Obedience of Christ many shall be made righteous but this not by accounting the satisfactory and meritorious Righteousness of Christ to be the formal Righteousness of their Persons for this is proper to him as Mediatour and cannot be appropriated to them But by this i. e. for the sake of this Righteousness of Christ all those that by Faith accept him shall by the Covenant of Grace be accounted Righteous or their Faith shall be accepted for Righteousness Rom. 4. 5. But to him that worketh not but believeth on him that justifieth the ungodly his Faith is counted for Righteousness And whereas he adds in this Article for it is by the Obedience of one and not by the Faith and Obedience of many that many are justified that is a meer jumble for who saith that it is by the Faith and Obedience of many that others are justified And who saith that any are justified without the Obedience of that one i. e. Christ giving that its proper place and office which is to be a meritorious Righteousness And whereas they themselves make Christ's Righteousness to be the meritorious cause of our Justification and yet after that make it the material cause or that with which we are personally righteous they themselves affirm hereby that justified Persons are righteous in the sense of the Law and in God's account with the meritorious Righteousness of Christ and how Persons can in God's account have a meritorious Righteousness with which they themselves are in Law-sense righteous and yet be wholly stripped of that in their own Persons that will merit is a great Paradox for Christ's Righteousness is denominated meritorious from its inseperable property merit as he is our Mediatour 14. I believe saith he that this Obedience and Righteousness of Christ imputed is as able powerful and certain for the Justification of the Elect as the Disobedience and Sin of Adam was for the condemnation of him and his posterity It may be doubted whether this Man do believe that those he calls the Elect were of Adam's posterity seeing that he opposeth them in this Article and touching Adam's Disobedience and Sin which he calls his ability and power implicit for the condemnation of him and his posterity alas it was his moral impotency if he had said it was that which merited procured the condemnation of him and his posterity as they derived a guilty and corrupt nature from him it had been more like and near the truth And thus I grant that Christ's Righteousness had infinitely more merit in it to procure Justification for Sinners upon their believing than Adam's Sin had merit to procure his own or his posterities condemnation 15. I believe saith he that Jesus Christ by his Death Blood Merits Righteousness and obedience hath purchased bought and redeemed his Elect Church and People but that he obeyed and died to procure and purchase a new Law or Covenant with terms and conditions to be performed by them to give them a right and title to Justification I see no ground as yet to believe Indeed I believe him such a stranger belike is he to the blessed Covenant of Grace and yet for sure he looks upon himself to be a Gospel Preacher if there be one in the World In this Article further he wants my proof that there is a Law or Covenant of Grace with terms and Conditions to be performed by Souls to give them a right and title to Justification and this purchased by Christ That I have already done as he may find above and if it would do him any good I should be glad of it 16. I believe saith he that the satisfaction made by Christ to the Law and Justice of God gives the Elect a right to Justification and Life in way of title and that the Adult by Faith receive and enjoy that right That Christ gave full-satisfaction to an offended God I grant but then that that satisfaction consisted in Christ's suffering the same in kind which was due to us transgressors by the Laws threat which I suppose is that which he aims at this I deny and have shewed above it cannot be I believe that Christ hath undoubtedly purchased a right to Pardon and Life which is Justification by his satisfaction and merit for all those the Father hath given him But then that any of these I speak of the Adult have an actual interest in him or right and title to Pardon and Life so long as impenitent unbelievers this I deny seeing so long as they remain such they are in a perishing condemned state Luke 13. 3. I tell you Nay but except ye repent ye shall all likewise perish John 3. 18. He that believeth on him is not condemned but he that believeth not is condemned already because he hath not believed in the Name of the only begotten Son of God And is it like Persons should have an actual interest in Christ and an actual right and title to Pardon and Life by the Gospel so long as they are in a perishing condemned state in the account of the Gospel And then further saith he the Adult by Faith receive and enjoy this right I say the Adult receive Christ which receiving is not Physical but Moral which consists in a sincere consent to take Christ to be their Propitiation Head and Teacher and by this consent which is Faith they are united to Christ and have an actual right hereupon to the great priviledge of Adoption which includes Pardon and Life John 1. 12. But as many as received him to them gave he power or the right of priviledge or the priviledge of right to become the Sons of God and this right is continued by our yielding that subjection through Grace to Christ which we promised in our first consent or when we first did consent to be his Servants Revel 22. 14. Blessed are they that do his commandments that they may have right to the tree of life and may enter in through the gates into the City 17. I believe saith he that all those thus elected and chosen and by the Father given to Christ redeemed c. are in God's appointed time the day of his power effectually called from a state of nature sin and death to a state of Faith Grace Justification and life and that all those who live and die in infidelity being Adult shall as certainly be damned as though they were in Hell already Mark Reader how he hath confirmed by thus much what I have said above But then saith he that any of the Elect being Adult shall live and die Infidels such an one speaking of me quoth he hath not yet proved That many of the Elect do live many years in Infidelity is out of doubt with me But that any of them shall die Infidels this I never said nor thought for saith Christ John 6. 37. All that the Father giveth me shall come to me and him that cometh to me I will no wise
Man and such as are of his party did before see such long winded complicated and confused Questions What a Faith it is which justifies I have at large shewn above And shall further give him to understand again that Faith as it is the Souls consent inclusive of assent to accept the Lord Jesus as offered in the Gospel gives the Soul interest in Christ and an actual right to Pardon and Life so perseverance in sincere Obedience which is consent in practice inclusive of affiance and reliance is that which continues the interest and right And so Justification is not a simulaneous act but a continued act of God by his Law of Grace Rom. 2. 7. To them who by patient continuance in well doing seek for glory and honour and immorality eternal life He that endureth to the end the same shall be saved Be thou faithful unto death and I will give thee a crown of life And that it must not be a simultaneous but a continued act most of our Divines mâ—st grant who assert Pardon to be a constitutive part of Justification and yet say that future sins are not pardoned before they be committed But it may be said when a believer falls into Sin and continues for some time as in the case of David without Repentance may he then be said to persevere If not then his justified state ceaseth I Answer as to the act and exercise of Grace he doth not persevere but as to the habit of Grace he doth which habitual Grace as the first Grace gave him right continues his right to the further exciting and quickening of the Spirit whereby he shall actually repent and thus he persevereth and falls not totally and finally away neither doth he cease to be in a justified stateâ— Psalm 37. 24. Though he fall he shall not be utterly cast down for the Lord upholdeth him with his hand Jerem. 8. 4. Moreover thou shalt say unto them Thus saith the Lord Shall they fall and not arise Shall he turn away and not return So that I affirm Justification is perfect as it is a right at the first but not so as to the full possession of that right if so be the Person justified live for some time after he hath given his first sincere consent for if a Person should die immediately upon his first sincere consent given he most certainly should be saved but then if he live for some time after that there is more required to continue his right to the the gift of further grace and also of glory and that is the performance of that which was included in his first consent as it gives him a right for Christ to other Covenant of priviledges so also to this i. e. the gift of persevering Grace And though this may not as it seldom is be without some actual failure yet it never doth nor never shall habitually fail And the proof of this may be drawn first from the nature of true and saving grace 1 Peter 1. 23. Being born again not of corruptible seed but of incorruptible by the word of God which liveth and abideth for ever 2dly From the perpetuity of the Covenant of grace which all are taken into I speak of the Adult who give a free and sincere consent Jerem. 32. 40. And I will make an everlasting covenant with them that I will not turn away from them to do them good but I will put my fear in their hearts that they shall not depart from me 3dly From Christ's constant and all prevailing intercession Hebr. 7. 25. Wherefore he is able also to save them to the uttermost that come unto God by him seeing he ever liveth to make intercession for them Luke 22. 31 32. And the Lord said Simon Simon behold Satan hath desired to have you that he may sift you as Wheat But I have prayed for thee that thy faith fail not and when thou art converted strengthen thy brethren Let not Persons from hence gather that such may then take liberty to Sin for this cannot be seeing that such a liberty would be inconsistent with true and saving Grace and so with a sincere consent Q. 7. Seeing it is written the just shall live by Faith what are they to trust and live by Faith in but that which is their justifying Righteousness then not in Christ for he is none such Righteousness He intends that Christ is none such Righteousness in my account and herein he is a false accuser for when or where did I assert that any Person is justified without the Righteousness of Christ Have not I said the contrary in affirming that Faith is accepted for our Gospel Righteousness for the alone meritorious and satisfactory Righteousness of Christ And by the way Reader I would have thee take notice that the strongest Arguments the Men of this stamp have for what they hold are either first an implicit Faith or secondly Accusing of those that oppose them as deniers of that which yet they affirm â—or this Man would insâ—nuate in what he faith that I wholly exclude the Righteousness of Christ from the Justification of a Sinnâ—r than which I abhor nothing more But it may be â—aid do not you exclude it from the matter of Justification I Answer from being the qualifying matter I do but not from being the meriting matter for it cannot be that the Righteousness of Christ should be communicated to me in it self so as to become the qualification of my Person or that which in it self must qualifie me as a subject of right or one that hath right hereby to Christ and his benefits But now whereas this Man saith what are they to trust and live by Faith in but that which is their justifying Righteousness he by this must make our justifying righteousness very extensive i. e. God and all his glorious perfections his promises c. for these we are to trust and live by Faith in and if we are to trust and live by Faith in nothing but that which is the matter of our justifying Righteousness then these must be the matter according to him of our justification as well as Christ's Righteousness true we are to trust and live by Faith in God's glorious perfections and his faithful promises through Christ but though it be so yet these are not the Righteousness of Christ which he accounts justifies us as our formal Righteousness nor any part of it The just then so live by Faith as that they trust and depend upon God's glorious attributes and his gracious promises through Christ for strength support and comfort in their faithful Obedience to his commands hoping only for their acceptation for Christ's all prevailing merits and satisfaction Q. 8. If Faith as it is our act be our justifying Righteousness what then mean those many places of Scripture that speak of Justification and Pardon by Christ his Righteousness knowledge grace freely by grace through the Redemâ—â—ion that 〈◊〉 in him This Question is built upon a false