effects of Christ's passion as I suppose he doth I utterly disclaim any condition on Man's part of this sort and so cannot be one with him 2. They that will enjoy the effects of Christ's passion must fulfill the condition If he meant they must fulfill it by the assistance of God's grace as a condition of connection and order it is true but if he meant they must fulfill it so as that they may merit or deserve it from the very nature of the thing which I think he did according to the Popish Doctrine that Christ hath merited that we might merit then it is false 3. The fulfilling of the condition requireth first knowledge of the condition which knowledge we have by faith Perhaps he meant by faith a blind implicit faith that which is so much in vogue and cried up at this day even among such as account themselves the greatest Anti-papists 4. Faith cometh of God and this faith is a good gift it is good and profitable to me it is profitable to me to do well and exercise this faith So it is I must confess if he spoke of that faith which according to the Scripture is true and saving for and through the merits of Christ and not such a faith that doth deserve of itself or in its own nature the reward for I know no such faith therefore faith Gardiner further By the gift of God I may do well before I be justified In the following Article he further explains himself 5. Therefore I may do well by the gift of God before I am justified towards the attainment of my Jâ—â—ification If he meant by way of merit to procure Jâ—stification ex opere operato from the very work done it is false and I disown it 6. There is ever as much charity towards God as faith and as faith increaseth so doth charity increase If this be taken absolutely every one may judge of it as they have light 7 Towards the attainment of Justification is required Faith and Charity If he meant still as meriting procuring causes in their own nature I disown it 8. Every thing is to be called freely done whereof the righteousness is free and at liberty without any cause of provocation This is a jumble like some other things I have met with of late and therefore I shall leave it to such as this Man who account themselves much wiser than I to find out the true intent and meaning and shall not trouble the Reader with conjectures 9. Faith must be to me the assurance of the promises of God made in Christ if I fulfill the condition and love must accomplish the condition whereupon followeth the attainment of the promises according to God's truth This doth not much differ from the Doctrine of such as place the very Essence of Faith in assurance I speak as to the first branch of it and for the rest I leave it as confused 10. A Man being in deadly Sin may have grace to do the work of penance whereby he may attain to his Justification If he meant that though a Man may be bound over to eternal death by Sin and live in a state of impenitency yet God may give him the grace of repentance who can fairly deny this but then that such an one by his repentance doth merit by it in its own nature that God should justifie him this is false and I disown it It was not my province to say any thing upon these Articles but only barely to transcribe them that the Reader might compare them and mine and see whether they be all of a piece as this Man insinuates Hence mine follow Touching Christ's Righâ—ousness and the Imputation thereof I affirm 1. God so far imputes it as that he accounts it was for â—ur Redemption and Salvation 2. God so far imputes it as that he accounts it to be the sole or only merit and purchase of the new Covenant and the benefits thereof 3. God so far imputes it as that he accounts it to be the merit of the blessed Spirit to work grace 4. God so far imputes it as that he accounts it is for this that all the duties and graces of his People are accepted 5. God so far imputes it as that he accounts it for this he pardons us and receives us into favour and justifies by his Covenant of Grace upon believing and so accepts our Faith for Righteousness It is not without Christ but for him 6. I do believe that what Christ did and suffered he did and suffered for us in the Person of a Mediatour and God doth account what he did and suffered as Mediatour doth and shall avail as much for the obtaining of Pardon and Life for us upon Faith as though we had been able to have done and suffered the same in our own Persons Now Reader compare and be judge whether Winchester's Articles and mine in this point of Imputation do so agree as this Man hath the modesty to affirm and if thou be such an one as Calumniations have weight with thou mayst have enough in him But further saith he the Martyrs before named sealed the contrary Doctrine with their dearest Blood i. e. the Doctrine contrary to mine as well as that of Winchester's for this he must chiefly intend in affirming Winchester's and mine i. e. my six things before mentioned do so agree that I in them do not exceed nor ascribe more to the grace of God and the merits of Christ than Winchester doth in his Be it known then unto all Men That if this Man or any other for him can find me any one either in the Scripture or in that which hath been accounted the Church of Christ by the Reformed since the Apostles times that was reckoned a faithful Servant of God and yet sealed as such a Doctrine contradictory to what is contained in the six particulars with his 〈◊〉 her dearest Blood and I profess I will retract them if so then such an one should have holden and this agreeable to the Scriptures and the common suffrage of the Church of Christ That Christ's satisfactory and meritorious Righteousness was not nor is not accounted by God to have been for our Redemption and Salvation nor to have been the sole purchase and merit of the new Covenant and the benefits of it together with the Holy Spirit nor to be that for which God accepts of the graces and duties of his People nor to be that for which God pardons and receives penitent believing Souls into favour c. Let him prove now if he can that Barnes Hierome and Garret sealed such a Doctrine thus contradictory to mine with their dearest Blood Hierome and Garret agreed with Barnes in the Doctrine of Faith and we find Barnes affirming that good works are to be done and they that do them not shall not come into the Kingdom of God and we find him only excluding them from Justification and Salvation in point of merit making Christ and the death of
THE TRUE NOTION OF Imputed Righteousness AND OUR Justification thereby BEING A supply of what is lacking in the late Book of that most Learned Person Bishop Stillingfleet which is a Discourse for Reconciling the Dissenting Parties in London but dying before he had finished the two last and most desired Chapters thereof he hath left this main point therein Intended without Determination By the Reverend M. S. a Countrey Minister But now the righteousness of God without the Law is manifested being witnessed by the Law and the Prophets Even the righteousness of God which is by Faith of Jesus Christ unto all and upon all that believe for there is no difference For all have sinned and come short of the glory of God Being justified freely by his grace through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus Rom. 3. 21 22 23 24. LONDON Printed for Tho. Parkhurst at the Bible and Three Crowns near Mercers-Chappel in Cheapside 1700. THE EPISTLE TO THE READER Courteous Reader THese Sheets were sent from an humble and modest and therefore the more considerate Minister of the Country to a Minister in London to be printed as he thought meet They came up without any Title at all to them and without any Partition and the Title therefore and the Sections are put to them by another when they came hither It is like that the Author never saw nor heard of this late Book of the Bishop seeing few that see it and read it but are displeased and they may well be so with that Person or Persons whosoever they be who were entrusted with his Papers that they should give an unfinished Discourse to the Bookseller or Printer who for their part yet cannot be faulted for accepting their profit to be published to the great disappointment of so many as expected satisfaction from such a hand The truth is they have herein dealt with the Bishop's Book as Hanun dealt with David's Servants they have sent the poor thing out with the garments as it were cut off in the middle and thereby as it needs must be greatly ashamed If for the covering this nakedness now we should have made use of any present clouts that were at hand though we had no such rich attire for it as himself would have put on it we might be excused But seeing the Cloathing we bring is for being home-spun and Countrey made the more substantial it may not only be excused but accepted as like to serve the purpose better then if it were finer in regard to such for whom intentionally the sheets were written By one who was desired to peruse the Manuscript but unknown to the Author THE AUTHOR TO THE READER Readers HAving done my Book there is one thing you are to understand or I am farther to acquaint you with that whereas my Adversaries charge me with contradicting our Reformers and being one with the Papists they cannot make good the charge and therefore 't is a slander For our Reformers what they writ upon the point was against the Papists who contended for Justification by inherent Grace and good Works as a Conformity to the violated Law i. e. the Law of Innocency and also that this Righteousness was in its own Nature Meritorious of Justification and Salvation but here or in this I do as much oppose the Papists as our Reformers and so am one with them in this respect in the point so far am I from contradicting them So that if the Persons my resolved Adversaries will have me to be one with the Papists and against our Reformers when I affirm that Faith in Christ is the qualifying though not the meriting matter of our Justification or that which is the Qualification giving right to Christ and his purchased saving benefits which follow hereupon they must prove that it is so accounted by me as it is a Conformity to that Law which requires sinless perfect Works and condemns for non-performance of the same and also to be meritorious of Life according to that Law or else all they say contradicts not me and if not then all their noise is but a beating the Air and so to no purpose seeing they are quite off from the matter in question The Papists affirm that the Law of God may be perfectly kept in this Life and that they intend the Law injoining perfect sinless Works is manifest seeing that our Protestants in opposition assert that no mortal Man is able to keep the Law of God perfectly in this Life and that it is no way possible to keep the same perfectly for if Man by Grace as the Papists say might perform the Law he might deliver himself by Grace from the Curse but now are we redeemed from the Curse only by Christ who was made a Curse for us and again say they if the Righteous Man keep the Law then he is without Sin for where there is no transgression of the Law there is no Sin but no Man is without Sin so that the opinion of the Papists upon the point is that the uniea formalis causa Justificationis est justitia Dei qua nos justos facit quam quisque in se recipit i. e. The only formal cause of our Justification is the Righteousness of God whereby we are not reputed just but are made just indeed This is the Righteousness which a Man hath within himself and is inherent in him and this justice or Righteousness it is plain they account an exact Conformity to the Law which requires perfect sinless Works for they teach that it is not only possible for Men to keep the Law of God in this Life but to do more than is prescribed or commanded in that Men of their abundance may allot unto others such works of supererogation These therefore who bring me into such worthy company as Mr. Baxter Mr. Humfrey Mr. Clerk whom they charge with Popery as they do me in the Doctrine of Justification because they affirm a practical Faith to be the qualifying matter of right to Christ and his saving purchased benefits which follow thereupon when every where they deny it to be the meriting matter asserting that to be Christ's Righteousness and his only do manifestly wrong and slander them and me for before our Adversaries can make us one with the Papists upon the matter in Question i e. in the point of Justification they have to prove that we hold these following things 1. That a Man in this Life by the Grace of God received may be perfectly conform'd to that Law which requires sinless Works 2. That Grace and good Works in their own nature considered as inherent do justifie 3. That they do so in the account of the above mentioned Law which injoins sinless Works 4. That the same Law which requires sinless Works is the Instrument of our Justification or that by which God doth judge or account Persons righteous upon their Conformity thereunto and so justifies them by it Now these things are so far from being holden
e. that the Law of Innocency approves and accepts of Christ's Righteousness Grant I must that Christ as Man was conformed to the Law of Innocency both in Nature and Life and that his Sufferings were in the place and stead of those Sufferings which were due unto us in Law for our Violation thereof and that both his active and passive Obedience was for us in a way of Mediation and Redemption But then that either the active Obedience of Christ considered as our Mediatour was approved and accepted by this Law for that Obedience which was due unto it from us in our own Persons or his passive Obedience for those sufferings which were due unto us by this Law threat this I deny for this Law knows nothing of a Mediatour for us for if so provision should have been made for such an one â—y it and in it but who will say this It is then the great Lawgiver that approves and accepts of the Righteousness of Christ for us as satisfactory and meritorious having left himself a liberty to dispence with his own Law as to the strict exaction and execution of it upon valuable consideration given by a Mediatour whose Obedience should be of infinite worth For if the Law of Innocency violated by Man's Sin should approve and accept Christ's Righteousness for Sinners as their Surety and Mediatour instead of that Obedience they were bound to perform then it must account them righteous in Christ's performance and if it account them righteous then it must justifie them and if it justifie them it must account them such as are sinless and perfectly Holy in Nature and Life for it will justifie none else Let me not be mistaken here I deny not but affirm that the Law of Innocency did both approve and accept of the Obedience of Christ or else he had not been justified by it But then that this Law did approve and accept of this Obedience of Christ as our Surety and Mediatour as to account it was so for us as that we obeyed in him this I deny For if so it cannot chuse but discharge us and we must need no Pardon for he cannot be said to have a Pardon that in the Laws own sense and acceptation pays the whole of what it requires either by himself or by another the Law allowing And he adds that the exact justice and free Grace of God do not only agree and kiss each other but that they are both exalted and glorified in the Justification of a Sinner I grant him the whole of this for it is of Faith that it might be by Grace and it is by Faith in such a way as justice hath full satisfaction yea and all the glorious perfections of God shine forth and must do for ever Further saith he how any Man can find his consequence I suppose he either would or should have said his conscience free from the accusation of the Law without such a â—â—ghteousness I cannot yet see To this I shall say we have all transgressed the Law it has concluded us all under Sin and as such condemns us and if we be convinced our Consciences do and must accuse us as guilty and bear witness for the Laws equity in this its process so that there is no stopping the execution of the Laws sentence by the procuring of Pardon or an act of Grace by any thing but by the satisfactory and meritorious Righteousness of Christ and this Righteousness shall not actually avail any for the purpose above but the penitent Believer for he that believeth not remains condemned and he that repents not continues unforgiven as to special Pardon as the Scripture is plain for the purpose Our Consciences then accusing us as Sinners for non-conformity unto and violation of this Holy Law of God which we must acknowledge so long as we live we are justly accused of or else we must deny our selves to be Sinners and affirm we are counted by this Law to be sinless and perfectly righteous that which must quiet our Consciences here and free us from fear and terror of having the Laws curse inflicted as to its full and eternal extent must be only the satisfactory and meritorious Righteousness of Christ by which we are delivered from the execution of its curse But if our Consciences accuse us of Impenitency and Infidelity and so to be such as have no actual interest in or right to Christ and his Righteousness for the purpose above spoken of there is nothing can quiet our Consciences here or remove our fear but our having of true Repentance and Faith found in us But again faith he nor can I see without such a Righteousness how the Doctrine of Faith establisheth the Law I grant him that without the Righteousness of Christ the Doctrine of Faith neither doth nor can establish the Law But then how wants explication I say then upon this Although the Doctrine of Faith or the Doctrine of Justification by Faith doth make void the Law suppose we the Law injoining perfect sinless works as a Covenant of Life and so as an instrument of our Justification not from any default in it self but from our moral infirmity or weakness yet the Doctrine of Faith doth not make it void as a Rule of Obedience seeing the Gospel which is the Law of Faith besides its own proper precepts hath also this proper unto it self to injoin us sincere Obedience to the Moral Law which shall for Christ be accepted instead of strict Legal perfection and thus the Law is established by Faith But if this may not content I shall shew him and others another way of Faiths establishing the Law and that is thus God accepting now the Obedience of Faith according to the Gospel Law which includes sincere Obedience to the precepts of that which is ordinarily called Moral as we consider Faith practical and this for the alone satisfactory and meritorious Righteousness of Christ hath hereby manifested that he could not so dispence with this his righteous and Holy Law as to pardon the violation or transgression of it without full satisfaction given to his governing Justice which satisfaction he hath had so that now in his justifying of a Sinner through Christ by Faith he keeps up the repute and credit of this his Law and so hath established it as a righteous and holy Law according to the Scripture Isa 42 21. The Lord is well pleased for his Righteousness sake he will magnifie the Law and make it honourable Rom. 3. 25 26. 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 I say at this time his Righteousness that he might be just and the justifier of him which believeth in Jesus He concludes this Article thus yet are we not justified by the Law though in a way of Law and Justice but freely by grace through the Redemption that is
right to this Pardon and Life without Faith previous thereunto in order of nature and whoever they are that will deny this they must deny the plainest part of Scripture But it may be said do not you affirm that the performance of the condition is required of us I Answer true and the Scripture is express we are injoined to repent believe and obey and not Christ for us doth not this suppose us then it may be said to have a moral power in our selves to repent believe and obey antecedent to the disposing and assisting grace of the Spirit I Answer no God indeed by his command makes it our duty to repent believe and obey his infinite wisdom having ordered this as the best way or means to our having Pardon and Life through Christ and therefore for this purpose will have the commands of the Gospel pressed upon Sinners But then his promise of the gift of this grace through and for Christ to enable us hereunto supposeth our want of moral power and so our insufficiency and inability in our selves to perform which the Spirit convinceth of so that God's commanding us that which we have not in or from our selves to perform without the renewing and assisting grace of his Spirit doth not suppose us to have the moral power of our selves but it only speaks God's order of acting in his dispensations towards Man whom he works upon as a rational Creature who after he is convinced of his Sin and Misery must be acquainted with what is his duty in this case and for this God gives his command as in the case of those at Peter's Sermon and the Jaylor c. But then after acquaintance with his duty and conviction of his own inability to perform God by his promise conveys the grace of his Holy Spirit to give him that ability so that now Man repenting and giving his sincere consent to be obedient to God in Christ the blessings of Pardon and Life according to the tenor of the Covenant of grace devolve upon him for Christ as the subject of the right i. e. as a penitent Believer So that in what I have said it is manifest the terms and conditions of the Covenant performed by Man through assisting grace are no other but terms and conditions of connection and order as hath been explained And here observe this is so far from destroying as that it doth establish the Doctrine of Justification by Faith or that Doctrine which teacheth Faith to be our formal personal Righteousness or that upon which God doth account us by the Covenant of grace subjects that have right through Christ to Pardon and Life seeing that God hath so connected true Faith and these saving benefits as that it is his fixed order by this his Covenant to dispense the latter to such and such only I speak of the Adult as are qualified with the former And if so then such must have a legal right i. e. a right in Law and what is a right in Law but a Righteousness in the sense of that Law and seeing we cannot have a right in the account of the Law of Innocency we cannot have a Righteousness in the account of that Law And if not then we must have another Law and this can be no other if a Remedy as we are fallen Creatures be but a Law of Grace and Mercy and if this must not be then we must have no legal right at all and if no legal right then no Justification there must be no such thing and if there be no such thing then let Persons contend no more about it And though it be true these conditions which are conditions of connection and order have not the Causality of the Efficient or meritorious cause yet they have the place of the matter disposing and qualifying together with the form which is God's accounting them as qualifying matter they constitute the Sinner a Subject that hath right according to the tenor of the Gospel to Pardon and Life through and for Christ and this is the nature of Justification But though this Man in his 24th Question hath granted Faith to be a condition of connection and order which is all that I intend as I have explained my self when I speak of the condition of the Covenant and so granted hereby a Covenant of grace made betwixt God and believers as I have shewn yet his 14th 15th 16th 17th 18th and 19th Questions they all respect the same thing i. e. his denial of the conditionality of the Covenant so consistent is this Man with himself but if he had not granted what he hath yet what I have said upon the former Question i. e. his 13th may be a sufficient solution to these I have mentioned and therefore I shall not take up time nor fill up Paper nor trouble the Reader with them only seeing I have answered him so many Questions I will request the same favour from him that he will answer me these few upon the matter 1. Whether he do Baptize as he calls it Persons Adult considered as so and so qualified or hath he no regard to any qualification but administers the Oâ—dinance to any that offer themselves suppose they be Turks 2. Whether there be any such a thing as any Persons being in Covenant with God If there be thenâ— 3. Whether are they taken into Covenant as Infidels or as Believers If there be not then 4. What is that which Baptism is a sign and Seal of And 5. Who have right to this Seal and that whereof it is a Seal It is only these few I shall propound I desire weight let him glory in number Q. 20. I pass on to his 29th Question If there be no right to Justification and life but by Faith how then or by what are dying Infants saved or by virtue of what Covenant have Infants right to Baptism I Answer By the Covenant of Grace upon the Faith of their Parents He needed not but it is like he would have had the number to have sought the solution of such a Question as this seeing I have at large before answered it in a Manuscript sent to one of his fellow Labourers which it is strange if he have not seen but however to this I remit him and pass on to his Q. 21. Doth not such an one naming me herein render the Doctrine of the most of those accounted Orthodox both Ancient and Modern to be false the prayers of the most sincere impertinent made in Sin and Ignorance and the sufferings of the Martyrs to be foolishness The greatest part of this I have answered already in what I have said to the 22d Article of his Faith only as to that wherein he chargeth me as one that renders the Prayers of the most sincere impertinent made in Sin and Ignorance My Answer is I do most firmly hold that a sincere Prayer though much Sin and Ignorance do and will remain in the Person who put up such a Prayer so long
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
is not actually healing to the Sick until it prevail against the Distemper and it is so with Grace And thus it may be known in what Sense Sanctification is before Justification Touching the gift of the first Grace know there is much good purchased by Christ and given without respect to any condition on Man's part and thus the gift of the first Grace God ordinarily by his Word 〈◊〉 Spirit concurring doth convince humble and incline the Sinner to accept of Christ in all his Offices i. e. to be Propitiation Head and Teacher and when the consent is gained then hath the Soul an actual interest in and right unto the Lord Jesus to be his Propitiation c. to the sanctifying Spirit to Reconciliation Adoption and Glorification The former work was to prevail with the Soul for its consent but when prevailed with then hath it an actual interest in and right unto Christ and the saving blessings of the Covenant promised upon consent A Man that Courts a Woman for her Consent to be his Wife untill this be given by her and she actually give up her self unto him to be his Wife she hath no interest in him as her Husband nor interest in nor right unto any of his Goods as one in that relation and thus it is in the Case before us If any Man saith Christ hear my voice and open the door I will come in to him and sup with him and he with me Revel 3. 20. SECT II. How the Imputation of Christ's Righteousness is to be held and how not AFter these things cleared I proceed to tell the World how I do and how I do not ◠〈◊〉 â— the Imputation of Christ's Righteousness I do not deny but affirm God's Imputation of Christ's Righteousness in these following Senses 1. God so far imputes it as that he accounts it was for our Redemption and Salvation Rom. 3. 24 25. 2. God so far imputes it as that he accounts it to be the sole or only Merit and Purchase of the New Covenant and the benefits thereof Heb. 7. 19. 2 Tim. 1. 10. 3. God so far imputes it as that he accounts it to Merit the Blessed Spirit for us to work Grace in our Hearts John 1. 16. Ephes 1. 3. 4. God so far imputes it as that he accounts it is for this that all the Grace and Duties of his People are accepted Ephes 1. 6. 5. God so far imputes it as that he accounts it is for this he pardons us and receives us into his favour and justifies us by his Covenant of Grace upon believing and so accepts our Faith for Righteousness it is not without Christ but for him Acts 13. 38 39. Golos 1. 21 22 23. 6. I do believe that what Christ did and suffered he did and suffered for us in the Person of a Mediatour and God doth account what he did and suffered as Mediatour doth and shall avail as much for the obtaining of Pardon and Life for us upon Faith as though we had been able to have done and suffered the same in our own Persons 1 Peâ—â—r 3. 18. Heb. 9. 15. 1 Tim. 2. 5 6. Rom. 4. 23 24 25. John 3. 16. Now I desire to know in what any Christian in his Practice can make further use of the Lord Jesus than in those particulars forementioned and if he cannot make any use of Christ by Faith but what may be reduced to some of those particulars Can it be thought that God doth make over Christ unto him after some sort wherein he shall be of no use If not then â— desire to know what needs any further or any Imputation of Christ's Righteousness of another sort than hath been expressed I desire it may be taken notice of that whereas I have been accused by some as an Adversary to all Imputation of Christ's Righteousness they have misrepresented me and so have wronged me And I challenge any Man to shew in this Profession wherein I have detracted from the Grace of God or Merits of Christ But now having shewn in what Sense I hold the Imputation of Christ's Righteousness I must plainly tell the World that God doth not so impute the Righteousness of Christ unto us as that he accounts it in it self to be our very formal Personal Righteousness reckoning that what Christ did and suffered as our Mediatour we did and suffered in our own Persons i. e. obeyed in him and suffered in him in the Sense of the violated Law of Innocency This is that I profess I dare not believe and the reason is the many gross and to be dreaded consequences with which such a Doctrine as this is loaded 1. It chargeth God with an untruth for God judgeth of things as they are and not as they are not if we then affirm that God accounts that what Christ did and suffered for us we did and suffered in our own Persons in the Sense of his violated Law which he must do if he account the very Righteousness of Christ to be ours in it self then he must account us to have done and suffered that in our own Persons which he knows we neither did nor suffered and if so then let it be considered what must follow 2. If Christ's Righteousness be imputed in it self then the Law of perfect sinless Works must justifie us for if God in our Justification do account the Righteousness of Christ in it self to be our formal personal justifying Righteousness then he must account us to be such as have a sinless perfect habitual and active Righteousness for such was the Righteousness of Christ and if God do account us to have such a righteousness as this in our own Persons then it must follow that the Law of Innocency must justifie us as well as it did Christ for what should hinder if we have the very same righteousness which is Christs to be our formal personal righteousness and have it we must if God do impute it unto us in it self and account it in that Imputation to be such a righteousness as formal and personal And from hence we must implicitly hold that God in our Justification doth account us to be as righteous as Christ which some have had the Confidence to affirm and all from this Doctrine for I hope People are not to learn that Christ's righteousness habitual and active was a perfect conformity to the Law of Innocency and if we be such in the Sense of that it accounting that what Christ was and did we were and did in him in point of conformity then in this very account it justifies us 3. God must account us such as are habitually and actively sinless and Holy such as have neither Sin in our Nature and Life for Christ was such and if we have the very same righteousness personally which he had which we must have if God account us as they say to have it then how can we chuse but be such as have neither Sin in Nature nor Life 4. That follows which
Heart quickning influences of the blessed Spirit But then if I be a Believer that I have it in it self and that it is of all these uses to me as it is accounted by God to be my formal personal Righteousness this I must deny for if so it must not be the Righteousness which is Christs and proper to him as Mediatour for which a Believer shall be delivered from everlasting shame and secured from God's wrath but the Righteousness of Christ as it is a Christian 's formal personal Righteousness and so as a quality in himself and it must not be the Graces of the Spirit and so not God's moral Image wherewith the Soul of a true Christian is adorned nor the Holy Spirits influences whereby it is quickned but only the Righteousness of Christ imputed in it self and so accounted to be his formal personal Righteousness And if it be thus then the Righteousness of Christ as Mediatour and the quâ—ckning and sanctifying operations of the Holy Spirit must be needless For whatever is a Believer's formal personal Righteousness it must not only be imputed unto him but be a quality in him as I have cleared above that whatever is the formal Righteousness of the Person must be the Righteousness of the Nature if therefore the Righteousness of Christ as they say be the formal Righteousness of the Person then that Person who is formally righteous by it must be perfectly righteous seeing Christ's Righteousness in it self which they say they have to be their personal Righteousness is such And if so what need of the Righteousness of a Mediatour or the graces and influences of the Holy Spirit for a Christian he being perfectly righteous in his very Nature with Christ's Righteousness Now they will say this they will not own and if not then why do they own and stick by such a Doctrine which hath such natural and unavoidable consequences as these I would gladly have these Persons consider whether they dare trust to this Righteousness of Christ for their Justification and Acceptation as it is their formal personal Righteousness without any further regard had to Christ as Mediatour without them if so then what need of Christ's Mediation without them if not then they must have Christ's Mediation without them for the acceptation of Christ's Righteousness upon them and doth Christ's own Righteousness stand in need of Christ's Mediation for its Acceptation I know not how they can come off here without either denying that a Person considered as justified needs Christ's Mediation or accounting the Righteousness of Christ upon them in the Sense of the Law of Innocency to be imperfect Take the former and they exclude Christ from being a Mediatour for a justified Person as such take the later and they destroy their own Assertion that there is no Justification but by a perfect legal Righteousness but I shall leave them in their own snaâ—e and pass on and I am like for they will not suffer me or any Man to help them 2. Another Text alledged to prove that Christ's Righteousness is imputed to Believers in it self and so is their formal personal Righteousness and so accounted by God is Jer. 23. 6. And this is his Name whereby he shall be called The Lord our Righteousness That Christ is the Lord our Righteousness I grant but where is it said in this Scripture that his Righteousness is accounted ours as to be the formal Righteousness of our Persons And if it be said Although it be not expressed yet it is intended I Answer it cannot be for Christ's Righteousness being a satisfactory and meritorious Righteousness it must be proper â—o him as Mediatour and what is proper to him as Mediatour cannot be in it self the formal personal Righteousness of another nor so accounted by God for God doth not look upon any Believer to have a satisfactory and meritorious Righteousness which he must have if he have the Righteousness of Christ to be his personal Righteousness for his personal formal Righteousness But God doth account every true Believer to have that Righteousness or to be so personally Righteous by the Righteousness of Faith as that he hath right by virtue of the promise of grace to those blessed and glorious benefits purchased by Christ by whose satisfactory and meritorious Righteousness this his Faith is accepted for Righteousness upon which Christ is the Lord of this Righteousness this Gospel Righteousness as the Purchaser Lord-Treasurer and dispenser of all Grace and may well then be called the Lord our Righteousness but then it doth not follow that the Righteousness of Christ which is proper to him as Mediatour and so for us is ours in it self and our very formal personal Righteousness 3. Another Text is in Isa 45. 24. Surely shall one say in the Lord have I righteousness and strength We may from this Scripture groundedly conclude that a satisfactory and meritorious Righteousness is to be found only in Christ and that this is sufficient to satisfie offended Justice and merit all good for us but what is this to prove that God accounts this his righteousness to be our personal formal Righteousness The Text saith no such thing and if it mean Christ's Righteousness as Mediatour the Text saith expresly it is in him and the Believer doth acknowledge it so to be and therefore not in himself which yet it must be if it be the Righteousness of his Person as hath been already shewn 4. A fourth Text is in Isa 61. 10. I will greatly rejoyce in the Lord my Soul shall be joyful in my God for he hath clothed me with the Garments of Salvation he hath covered me with the Robe of Righteousness as a Bride groom decketh himself with Ornaments and as a Bride adorneth her self with her Jewels That this Text cannot be meant of a Believer's being clothed with Christ's Righteousness as a Robe in a proper Sense hath been made manifest and if it be so improperly i. e. a Robe then only in a comparative Sense as to its use and that it may fitly be compared unto a Garment or Robe as to its use as satisfactory and meritorious with respect unto a Believer I grant but that it hath the use of a Garment so as to be any Person 's formal Righteousness this I deny and that upon the Reasons above given which Reasons are sufficient to manifest that whatever Text of Scripture be brought for proof that Christ's Righteousness is a Robe in their Sense is mistaken by them And whereas they alledge among the rest that in Revel 19. 8. speaking of the Church And to her was granted that she should be arrayed in fine linnen clean and white for the fine linnen is the righteousness of Saints 'T is not said this fine linnen is the Righteousness of Christ though the Righteousness of Christ we acknowledge did purchase and merit it But the Righteousness of the Saints i. e. the purity and holiness of the Saints and that it is so let the
sinless Righteousness even the Righteousness of Christ that must justifie because no other Righteousness can be adaequate to the Law and we say the same with them that if we are justified by the Law of Innocency no less than a perfect sinless Righteousness would avail us here but we are not as hath been made appear but by the Gospel and though I affirm that Faith is our personal justifying Righteousness according to the Gospel Law yet it doth not follow from hence that Believers shall stand upon their points with God in judgment according to his strict Justice no they must say with David Psalm 143. 2. And enter not into judgment with thy servant for in thy sight shall no Man living be justified But I say upon conformity to the Law of Grace they have interest in Christ the Mediatour and a right to his Righteousness upon which they do depend and trust for the satisfaction of God's offended Justice and the answering the violated Law for the procuring of their acceptation with God and a grant of all saving promised good so that as to process in judgment my thoughts are that Believers shall not personally plead at all but Christ as their blessed Advocate for them But then this he will do for them as such who have been and are found recti in curia Evangelica right in the Gospel Law which still I say is and shall be the Rule of Judgment Rom. 2. 16. In the day when God shall judge the secrets of Men by Jesus Christ according to my Gospel and so justified by this his fixed constitution The ground I have is Matth. 25. from Verse 34 to 41. Whereas some that they may hold their ungrounded and unscriptural notions do confidently affirm that our Faith Repentance and sincere Obedience hath only the place of an Evidence I do not deny the Obedience of Faith to be an Evidence but then I must not confound but distinguish of its primary and secondary use and office and the result of both Christ saith John 15. 14. Ye are my friends if ye do whatsoever I command you Dare any Man say they were friends actually before any subjection to Christ if not was not this their subjection a conformity to the Gospel so far as revealed And is there any conformity to the Gospel without Obedience to its commands And is there any Obedience to the commands of the Gospel in truth which is not the obedience of faith Those who will contradict let them prove and then take the cause If they cannot then they must give us leave and if they will not we must make bold to take it it being allowed by one that is greater than they to distinguish of the Obedience of Faith as it constitutes us friends through Christ's Mediation continues us friends and as it is an evidence resulting from both where God is pleased to give the light Say some Job when accused by his friends for being an hypocrite pleads his own Righteousness as much as any But as to Justification thereby before God he speaks otherwise Job 9. 20 21. If I justified my self mine own mouth shall condemn me if I say I am perfect it shall also prove me perverse Though I were perfect yet would I not know my Soul I would despise my life Now will this or the other really and in it self justifie a Person from the charge of hypocrisie before Men that will not so far justifie him from the charge or accusation in God's account when a Person is falsly accused of hypocrisie as Job must not he so far as he hath a discovery of his sincerity plead this to justifie him against that accusation and if he be sincere is he not so in God's account and so clear of that predominant hypocrisie of which he is accused and doth not God so far as he accounts a Person clear of a false accusation justifie him Let Persons who contradict prove if they can That sincerity will only justifie a Person from the charge or accusation of hypocrisie before Men while yet the accusation stand◠in full force before God and he accounts the Person who is in himself sincere to be a downright hypocrite The meaning then of the above quoted Text in Job seems to be this If I justifie my self as one unjustly afflicted by God this very Justification of my self and charge uttered against God would be sufficient to condemn me if I say I am in a strict sense legally perfect and so have no Sin for which God may correct me this very boasting would prove me perverse and sinful yea though I were perfect yet would I not know or look upon my self as such an one whom God might not deal withal as he pleased considered as absolute Lord and owner Now to argue from this Text according to this clear Exposition that Faith is no qualifying matter of right to Christ Pardon and Life is no better than to argue à bacculo ad angulum ut patet attendenti From what I have affirmed above i. e. That there is no danger of a Soul 's resting in duties where true Faith is in exercise seeing the exercise of Faith will lead that Soul to rest in Christ and God in and through him for acceptation it hath been inferred that such as have throughly imbibed this opinion are if unregenerate in the snare of Satan almost secure from conviction And if this be so then these Men who draw up such a conclusion from the Doctrine have this to prove look where they will find a proof that whoever holds that there is no danger of a Soul 's resting in duty where true Faith is in exercise c. he is in the snare of the Devil if he be unregenerate and like to be for this Doctrine will keep him there And if this Doctrine be it that will keep an unregenerate Person in the snare of the Devil how can any one be out of his snare that holds it for if it be the Devil's snare he that holds it must needs be in it If then a Person have been regenerate before yet according to this assertion if he imbibe this Doctrine it brings him back into the snare of the Devil so that he must fall from grace falling from a regenerate state and I for my part by these Men sentenced to the black Pit and in their account there is no hope for me but by the grace of God in Jesus Christ I do not dread their Sentence This intus existens prohibens alienum is very much to be lamented at this day seeing it opposeth manifest truth I suppose the consequences that I have deduced from the common Doctrine of Justification are very offensive to some and they call them absurd But I say again whosoever they be that holds Christ's Righteousness in it self to be their very personal formal justifying Righteousness the inferences are natural from the Notion and whereas they are called absurd the contradiction betwixt the abovesaid Doctrine
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