nature and use 4. Upon this the Covenant by virtue of the foresaid Merit of the Mediator must effectually justifie him 33. Though we have no Righteousness of our own that is so denominated by the Law of Innocency yet have we a Righteousness to plead for our Justification from its Sentence which by our Mediator was performed to it by which the Law-giver hath received satisfaction and we must have the personal subordinate â—ighteousness required by the Covenant of Grace 34. All that are made righteous are esteemed and judged righteous and used as righteous 35. Pardon of Sin and Right to Life are not that Righteousness which answereth the Precept of the Law But they are that Righteousness which justifieth us against the Accusation that we are not to be saved but to be damnâ—d 35. Christs Perfeâ—â— Obâ—diâ—nce to the Law of Innocency exempteth uâ— from the necessity of perfect obedience to it and from all duty of obeying it as the condition of life But he did not Repent and Believe in obedience to his own Law of Grace to exempt us from the necessity of Repenting and Believing which we must do our selves by his grace or perish 36. To make a man righteouâ— implieth that he was before unrighteous But to judge him righteous supposeth him to be righteous yet either accused of unrighteousness or accusable Justification here supposing either actual or virtual Accusation 37. The Law is the Virtual Accuser but that speaketh nothing but truth viz. that we sinned and deserved damnation Satan is the Actual Accuser and the Father of Lies 38. We shall not be justified by denying the true Accusation of the Law but by denying the false Accusation of Satan That we are sinners must be granted and that our sin deserved Hell But that we have no part in Christ that we are unpardoned unreconciled sinners that we are unbelievers impenitent unregenerate unholy or hypocrites must be denied or we perish As also that hereupon we ought to be damned and not to be glorified 39. By this it is very plain how far a man must be justified in Judgment by his own personal Righteousness and also how to understand Matth. 25 â—nd all the descriptions of the last Judgment and the Reasons there assigned of the Sentence and what it is to be Justified or Condemned by our words and to be judged according to our works or what we have done in obedience or disobedience to the Law of grace and what is meant in James by being justified by works and not by faith alone For though Christs righteousness is to be then honoured it is not his part but ours that is by him to be Examined and Judged And it is the Law of Grace by which we must be judged which prescribed us the Conditions of Pardon and Salvation The performance of which must therefore be the cause of the day to be Examined and Judged 4. To justify a mans Right to Salvation is to justify the man when his right is the thing tried Therefore the causes of our Right to Salvation are necessary causes of our Justification All this is plain and I think not by a Christian to be denied And is not here enough to be the matter of our Christian peace and concord in this one point of Justification But we are not so happy It is a greater number of Controversies that the teachers of Christians have raised about it than many hours will serve to handle I will name some that are too many and yet far from all and give you my sense of them plainly and briefly that you may truly understand the matter and me Cont. 1. Passing by all the old quarrels about Christs Person by the Arrians Nestorians Eutychians Monothelites Phantasiastae and abundance more about Justification it self the first that I shall mention is that which a few great and worthy men have unhappily raised Whether Justification be not an Immanent act in God and so eternal This they assert and I deny There is nothing in God but God Nothing therefore that hath beginning and end but all is Eternal But Relations and Extrinsick denominations and also Effects may begin and end The world was not from Eternity God did not make it from Eternity nor was the creator of it from Eternity in proper speech And yet no Act as it is in God had beginning or end for it is God himself But Gods Essential will or word is not called creating till it actually create So is it in Justification Nothing is new in God besides Relation and Denomination but much is new by and from God Justification is a transient act of God It is the act of his Covenant and his Judgment and Execution Therefore he that saith Elect Infidels are Justified from Eternity Contradicteth Gods word that saith we are justified by faith and till then are under Condemnation Cont. 2. Whether the Covenant of Grace be made only with Christ or with us also The first is put into a Catechism where I am sorryer to find it than in Maccovius Cluto Cocceius and Cloppenburgius The Covenant made with Christ is not the same that is made between Christ and us and which we celebrate in Baptism It is not only Christ that is baptized but all his members And baptism is the mutual Covenant We are the receivers of the Relation to God the Father Son and Holy Ghost and we are the Promisers the word Restipulation is too presumptuous If we are not Covenanters we can be no Covenant breakers nor have right to the benefits of such a Covenant It is the same thing that in several respects is called a Law and a Covenant And if we are not under Christs Law we are Lawless or not his Subjects Deny Christs Law and Covenant to us and you will subvert all Christianity and deny the rule of Judgment and Justification Cont. 3. Whether the Covenant of grace have any condition required of us Ans Here we first shew our weakness in contending about the word Condition while we agree not of the sense though till men made a difference on this ill occasion there were few words that men were more agreed in of such a Subject And the word we must use hath no other name that I remember which our Grammar hath taught us to call such Conjunctions by as If is but Conditional nor any other name that Law and Civil use hath taught us to call the thing defined by but CONDITION without circumlocution uncouthness or obscurity The common definition of Lawyers is that it is Lex addita negotio quaâ— donec praestetur eventum suspendit It is in our case the Mode of the Law or Promise requiring a Duty or Moral Act or qualification on the presence or absence performance or non-performance whereof the Law or Donation annexeth or suspendeth the event This is a Condition as it is in the Law or Covenant or Promise being but its Modus But as it is in the person and performance it is
a Moral Act or qualification required by the Law or Promise to which it annexeth and till it be performed suspendeth the event Natural or meerly contingent conditions that are not moral belong not to our enquiry As if it be a fair day to morrow If such a ship come safe home If I live so long c. Some define a condition here to be any Moral medium of obtaining a benefit ex pacto But 1. A Law hath its conditions and so hath a Donation or promise when there is no proper mutual pactum or Covenant 2. There are other Moral media ex pacto besides conditions as are all simple duties 3. But these definers cannot congruously deny the Gospel Covenant of grace to have conditions of our â—ustification and Salvation For none but an Infidel can congruously deny that Faith and Repentance are conditions of our Justification and Salvation if every Moral medium be a condition which is ex â—acto Is faith and is repentance no means And are they not required of us and do we not profess them at present and promise them for the future Sometimes the same thing is a moral cause and a Condition of the Event And sometimes it is a meer Condition and but sine quâ— non and no proper cause usually in Moral Conditions there is something in the Nature of the matter for the sake of which the Donor or Lawgiver maketh it necessary which is its aptitude as a means to some of his ends If Faith had no more fitness to be the condition of Justification than Vnbelief or hating God and if Godliness or Holiness had no more fitness to be the Condition of our Salvation than wickedness they would not have been deputed to this place Office and Honour Faith is no Condition of Gods making the promise He absoâ—utely made some Conditional promises and others only on conditions performed by Christ But it is the condition of our right to or possession of the thing promised or of the event Either the deniers of conditions deny all or but some If all then they deny that Christ performed any conditions If but some they deny either the name only or the thing also If the name only 1. Is it worth their Zeal and Contention 2. Are they not singular and singularity in the use of words tendeth to causless quarrels 3. Why do they not commend to us some better name for the same thing Grammar and common use hath taught us this Dr. Twisse hath found another oft and oft saying that Faith is a dispositive cause of Justification I dislike not his notion save that 1. It is too general there being more dispositive causes besides Conditions 2. That it is not Political enough as the Subject requireth or Civil 3. That it is in two words when one is better and 4. That the very terms Cause is liable to mistake For faith is no efficient cause of Justification principal nor instrumental We must not ascribe so much to it Nor is it a final cause nor the formal cause But it is as the Dr. speaketh Dispositio Subjecti recipientis Not a natural but Moral disposition Yet made such by Gods institution because the very nature of the act containeth a fitness to its receptive Office even as it is the believing acceptance of such a free and wonderful gift to such special ends and uses 2. But if it be not the Name only but the thing defined that is denied the Gospel is denied and that which is of necessity to Salvation is denied To deny faith to be necessary to Pardon Justification and Salvation as a moral means congruous in its nature and instituted of God is Infidelity or open prophaneness Nor can those be meet Preachers of the Gospel that deny it and oppose it Two ways Scripture sheweth that Justification and Salvation are given conditionally 1. By the plain Conditional Phrase and 2. By the conditional description in the mode of the promise To instance in a few Texts among a multitude Mar. 16.16 He that believeth and is baptized shall be saved and he that believeth not shall be damned Rom. 4.25 To whom it shall be imputed if we believe on him that raised up Jesus our Lord from the dead Rom. 10.9 10. For if thou shalt confess with thy mouth the Lord Jesus and shalt believe in thy heart that God raised him from the dead thou shall be saved For with the heart man believeth to righteousness and with the mouth confession is made unto Salvation Joh. 1.12 To as many as received him to them gave he power to become the Sons of God even to them that believe in his name Joh. 3.19.18 16. Joh 6. throughout Mat. 6.14.15 If ye forgive men their trespasses your heavenly Father will forgive you But if ye forgive not c. Luk. 13.3 5. Except ye repent ye shall all likewise perish Acts 10.35 In every nation he that feareth God and worketh righteousness is accepted of him Acts 8.37 If thou believest with all thy heart thou maist i. e. Be baptized for the remission of sins But I have recited so many Texts of this sort in my Confession and other books that I will here forbear unnecessary recitals Mat. 5. alone may suffice and all the Texts that say Faith his imputed for or to righteousness and that we are justified by it Furthermore 1. If the Baptismal Covenant have no condition then none is to be prerequired in the person to be baptized nor his promise of any demanded But the consequent is false Else the baptism instituted by Christ and ever practised in the Church is false And here you see what a Baptism these men would make If they practice it according to this principle and how they would overthrow our Christianity and baptize Infidels The major is evident because where no condition is required of God or imposed there none should be required or imposed by the Minister And if so in Baptism why not also in Absolution and the Lords Supper 2. If the Promise of Pardon and Justification be Absolute without any condition then either to All men or but to some If to All then all are justified If but to some to whom If you say to the Elect no man knoweth them while they are unbelievers and so neither the Person nor the Minister can apply that Promise to any singular man If you say To Believers you grant Faith to be a necessary moral antecedent And if so whence can you imagine it to be such but Aptitudinallyâ— in the Nature of the Act receiving Christ which some call it's Instrumentality and Actually by Gods Institution in the Tenor of his Word Now this is 1. In the Tenor or Mode of the Precept and that maketh it a Duty 2. In the Tenor or Mode of the Promise and that maketh it it's Condition In what other respect do they exclusively feign it necessary Obj. As an Antecedent Ans That speaketh but the Order But what Antecedent is it
either the Objectiors speak de nomine or de re If but of the Name One they shall call it One if that will please them and let them only distinguish the Parts of that One If they â—ill say that the Covenant made by the Father with the Mediator and the Law made for him are one and the same with the Covenant made by the Fatâ—â—â— and Son and Holy Spirit with us and that our Baptismal Covenant is no Covenant but only a part of the Covenant of which that with Christ aforesaid is another part I will not use their phrase but let me understand them that it is only the Name of One or Two that they contend about and we will fit our words accordingly I think on several accounts they are to be called Divers Covenants If they dislike it let us enquire whether the various Precepts of one Covenant make not various duties to Christ and to us and whether the various Promises of it have not various Conditions some to be performed by Christ and some by us Our present Question is Whether that part of the Covenant which promiseth and giveth Pardon of sin Justification Adoption and right to Glory have any Condition as the Modus of the gift We will rather follow them in unmeet terms than leave them thence a pretence to confound names and things and hide their errour by the confusion All Divines ancient and modern reformed and and unreformed that I know of agreed with us in the conditionality of the said Promise and by the form of Baptism shewed the Churches consent till Maccovius in Holland and Dr. Crispe and other Antinomians in England began to subvert the Gospel on pretence of magnifying the freeness of Grace and yet they durst never attempt to alter the Form of Baptism as this Opinion will require Contr. 4. By what hath been said the fourth Controversie is already resolved viz. Whether our performance of the Condition of Justification doth efficiently justifie us Some say because we say that Christ doth not justifie us till we perform the condition by believing that therefore we make our own Faith or performance to justifie proximately and Christ but remotely and so to do more than Christ to our Justification Ans 1. As to the phrase Scripture saith that we are justified by Faith that word not signifying an eâ—â—â—ciency but a receptive qualifying condition but it never saith that Faith doth jusâ—ifie us much less thâ—t we by it justifie our selves Our performance or Faith is no efficient cause but as to two parts of our Justification it hath a twofold Office 1. As to our Justification by the Merits of Christs Righteousness against this charge that damnation is due to us for sin our Faith is the Condition of our Pardon and Justification that is the moral qualification which God hath made necessary to make us capable receivers of it As laying down Arms and taking his Pardon thankfully may make a Rebel capable of Pardon but doth not pardon him if the pardoning Act say This shall be the Condition And by his Pardon he is justifiable against the charge of being liable to death 2. But as to the subordinate part of Justification against the falâ—e charge that we are no believers nor repent and so have no part in Christ here our own Faith is the very Matter of Righteousness by which we must be in tantum so farâ— justified As truth and innocency is against every false accusation And to say that because Christs Merits justifie us not before and without our Faith and performance of the Condition therefore our Act justifieth us more than Christ or efficiently at all is a thing unworthy of an answer being below the thoughts of an intelligent Disputer How much the capacity or incapacity of the Receiver doth as to all the various changes in the world both physical and moral when yet efficiently it doth nothing is not wholly unknown to any sober thinking man As the same sun-shine maketh a Weed stink and a Rose sweet so the same Act of Oblivion or conditional Justifying Law or Covenant doth justifie the capable and not the uncapable though no mans Faith doth effect any part of his own Justification Mr. Troughton and such others denying Faith to be the Condition of our Justification by the Promise hath drawn me to speak the largelier of this Contr. 5. Whether we are justified by Christs Righteousness imputed to us and whether the Scripture say so Ans The Scripture oft saith that Faith is imputed to us for Righteousness and that is Faith in Christ And it saith that Righteousness is imputed or reckoned to us that is we are reckoned or reputed righteous Rom. 4.11 22.6 And that sin is not imputed that is not charged on us to punishment or damnation Rom. 5.13 4.8 Psal 32. v. 2. 2 Cor. 5.10 The words of Imputing Christs Righteousness to us I find not in Gods Word and therefore think them not necessary to the Churches peace or safety But as for the sense of those words no doubt but it may be good the Papists themselves own them in the same sense as many Protestant Divines profess to use them as I have proved Contr. 6. In what sense is Christs Righteousness imputed to us Answ It is accounted of God the valuable consideration satisfaction and merit attaining Gods ends for which we are when we consent to the Covenant of Grace forgiven and justified against the condemning Sentence of the Law of Innocency and reconciled and accepted of God to Grace and Glory Q. But did not Christ represent our persons in his Righteousness so that it is imputed to us as ours as if we our selves had been and done what he was and did as righteous Ans This being the very heart of all the Controversie should be decided only by Scripture and nothing added or diminished That Christ is the second Adam and called 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 a Sponsor Surety or Interposer and a Mediator between God and Man that suffered for us the just for the unjust a price and a sacrifice is all found in scripture Wise and peaceable men here will be as fearful of humane Inventions and Additions as in Discipline or Ceremonies at least But because all are not such we must speak to men as they are There are several sorts of Sureties or Sponsors Few represent the very person at least not all If men will needs impose on us their own word of Representation for peace sake we accept it in a sound sense In a limited sense it is true that Christ represented us that is he suffered in our stead that we might not suffer He obeyed and was perfectly righteous as Mediator in our Natures and so far in our stead as that such perfect Righteousness should not in our selves be necessary to our Justification But he did not absolutely represent us he was not our Delegate Our persons did not in a Law-sense do in and by Christ what he
deliver if it may be more than his own Soul 1. Is it possible that that which is evil and the greatest evil it self can be in us and done by us and do us no hurt 2. Can that do no hurt to the Elect that maketh such calamitous Confusions in the World What that which filleth the Earth with the darkness of Ignorance Idolatry Infidelity bloody Wars Persecutions Torments Flames Famine Malignity and yet do no hurt to any that are Elect no not while they are such themselves 3. Did Paul call himself mad against the Saints unworthy to be called an Apostle a wretched man for that which did him no hurt 4. Did David write all the lamenting Words of Psal 51. and many others and Asaph Psal 77 c. for that which did them no hurt 5. Did God pronounce all the Curses Lev. 26. and Deut. 27. c. against that sin that will not hurt the Elect that then lived 6. Are the recitals of the Jews sins and punishments Psal 78. and 105 106. c. of things that cannot hurt the Elect 7. Did God send the Jews into Captivity to Babylon for sins that do the Elect no hurt even for penitent Manasses's sins 8. Are all God's threatnings in the whole Scripture even such as Christ's Words Joh. 15. Heb. 6. Heb. 10. and Rev. 2 and 3. against things that are so harmless Must we serve God acceptably with Reverence and Godly Fear because he is a consuming Fire and because it is a fearful thing to fall into the Hands of the living God if no sin can possibly do us any hurt 9. Doth not this opinion contradict every Article of the Creed every Petition in the Lords Prayer and everyone of the Ten Commandements 10. If it be no hurt to be tormented with possessions of the Devil to be Lunatick Blind Lame Dumb Torn c. Why is Christ so Praised for healing such and why appealeth he to his Works against unbelievers 11. If it be no hurt to be mad what is Bedlam good for Or to be tormented with Stone Collick Convulsion or any Disease why will these Phanaticks seek to Physicians use Medicines and groan in Pain Possidonius would confute his Tongue by a sower-face or a groan when he said O Pain thou shalt not make me confess that thou art malum ill or bad 12. Why do we not take up with the three first Petitions in the Lords Prayer if our own Interest be not next to be regarded and prayed for 13. Why pray we for our daily Bread if there be no hurt to want it or for the pardon of sin if punishment be impossible or hurt not or against temptations and the evil one and evil things if they be no such 14. Should none pray but Reprobates if others have no hurt to deprecate 15. Why should we compassionate the poor or sick if sin do no hurt to them 16. Why do men Plow and Sow and Labour and Eat if Famine hurt not and Labour do no good because Christ hath done all 17. Why do Ministers Preach so much against sin if it can do no hurt 18. What is it that we are to repent of if sin do no hurt 19. Why must fasting and watchfulness and resisting temptations be used against Lust and other sin if it can do no hurt 20. What is Baptism the Lords Supper Confession and Absolution then for 21. Why then should we exhort each other daily lest any be hardened by this deceitfulness of sin 22. Why is he called Least in the Kingdom of God who breaketh the least Commandement and teacheth men so 23. Why is the Education of Children so great a Duty and he that spareth the Rod hateth his Child if sin will do them no hurt 24. What is God's Governing Justice good for in punishing sin if it hurt not 25. Why must Rulers be Just and a Terrour to them that do evil if sin do no hurt 26. How can that hurt any other Elect Person that hurteth not the sinner himself 27. Why is it worse to be cast into the Sea with a Mill-stone for scandalizing the least if that scandal cannot hurt them 28. Why do Libertines labour to escape Prisons Banishments Fines or Hanging for sin if it can do them no hurt 29. Why is man's nature afraid of Devils and the Serpents seed if they cannot hurt us 30. Why hurt we others by Self-defence and War if nothing can hurt us 31. Why hath God put Fear into our Nature if nothing can hurt us 32. Was it no hurt to the Elect to be long the Devil's Servants and to have our Conversion so long delayed as with many it is 33. Is sin worse than suffering if it can do no hurt 34. Is it no hurt to live and dye in terrible fear of Gods displeasure and in doubts of our everlasting state 35. Is it no hurt to have Faith Love Desire and Joy weak and to have still the remnants of unbelief and other such like sins 36. Is it no hurt to lose some degrees of Love and Holiness which we have had 37. Is it no hurt accordingly to have the less of Glory in Heaven 38. Why are these men for Separation and Church-Discipline if sin do no hurt 39. Why pray they for Reformation and Church-prosperity and the Thousand Years Glorious State if sin be so harmless a thing 40. If all that Christ Merited be really the Elects immediately on his purchase are not all the Elect in Heaven already yea before they had any being whence then is all the gross Ignorance and Errour and blind Defence of Satans falsehoods under the Name of Christ and Truth Why censure they Conformists and others that differ from them If all that Christ hath be already ours and we are as perfect as he what can Duty or more Grace or Heaven add to us And why would they have men read their Books to do no good and avoid no evil Is it to make up any imperfection in the Obedience or Righteousness of Christ 41. Did Christ redeem us from under his own Government and the Law of Grace Are we not under the Law of Christ and Faith and Liberty to Christ Or is there any transgression if no Law Or is it Law that we shall not be Ruled and Judged by 42. Is it no greater Mercy and Grace to make us like our Saviour in Holiness and Gods Image and the Divine Nature than not Are Christ's Graces his dishonour 43. Is it not a vile abuse of his Grace to contemn it because it is our own And to take Righteousness to stand against Free Grace if it be but our own And to pervert Pauls Words that accounted as dung his own Righteousness which he sets in competition or opposition to Christ calling it that Righteousness which was of Moses Law when at the same Word he sets against it a Righteousness also made his own which is by the Faith of Christ Could Christs Righteousness Justify us if it were not in some kind of Causality meritorious material or formal made our own Can an Accident of another Subject be an Accident of us And will not distinct personality continue to Men as well as to Angels for ever We abhor the thoughts of any Righteousness that is of our own possessing or working otherwise than as given and wrought in us by the Merits of Christ and the Free Gift of undeserved Grace or any that must not by the same Divine Power and Grace be continued And all that pretendeth to the least part of the Office or Performance of Christ but only what he freely giveth and which advanceth the Honour of his Merits and Love and tendeth to Please and Glorify God and attain the designed End of Redemption and Salvation AS to the Twelve Names that are prefixed to the Book I leave it to themselves to speak their own Cause Only I can say that one of them taketh the Words if mean't as they are written and indeed inculcated to overthrow Christianity and Humanity And I doubt not but some of the rest are of the same mind and had not read the Book or the Preface so as to know what was in them FINIS THE CONTENTS CHAP. 1. Prefatory page 1. Chap. 2. An hundred of their Errors described p. 6. Chap. 3. To moderate the over-hot Censurers of their Persons p. 38. Chap. 4. Reasons for present forbearing a tedious Confutation of them as being fully and often done by me already and as further needless p. 58. Post-script p. 65. Three BOOKS Lately Published by Mr. BAXTER and Printed for Tho. Parkhurst 1. ENglish Non-Conformity as under King CHARLES the Second Truly Stated and Argued 2. Knowledge and Love 3. Cain and Abel THE Vanity of Continuing Ceremonies in the Worship of GOD by a Minister of the Church of England An Healing Attempt Conscience Satisfied in Submitting Obedience to King WILLIAM and Queen Mary