Spirit to abide with us for ever Joh. 14.16 And the powring out of the Spirit was reserved till his Work of Redemption was finished and he should be possessed of Glory John 16.7 And then he promised the Spirit â—o lead us into all truth to reveal himself to us and to glorifie him in us v. 12 13 14. Lastly He prayed for sanctifying Grace and perseverance for them that did and all that should hereafter believe till they all come to be one in him John 17.15 16 21. And wherefore is the Power of giving Grace committed to the Mediatour if not purchased by him and why doth he interceede for that he never bought and paid for If then Christ purchased Grace as well as a Right to Life then Justification giveth a Right to Grace as well as to Life it self and so is more than Pardon 5. I argue from the Impulsive Causes Pardon is an Act of meer Mercy but Justification is an Act of Justice therefore it is not meer Pardon God justifieth Believers not as a meer Act of Favour though free Mercy be the Foundation and the prime impulsive cause of Justification and all the Fruits of it but immediately it is an Act of Justice Justice being the immediate Impulsive Cause It is not only a Just thing with God to justifie a Sinner through Christ that he may do it without wrong to his Justice as some gloss it but it is an Act of proper Justice having received satisfaction to his Law to justifie and acquit him it would not be just to deny it This is intimated Rom. 8.33 35. Who shall lay any thing to the charge of Gods Elect It is God that Justifieth 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Who shall indite or implead them in course of Law or Judgment or else there is enough to be charged against them The Reason is because it is God that justifieth God who is to be Judge to give the Sentence and therefore will justifie judicially or as an Act of Judgment And the ground of this is in the next words 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Who shall condemn in Judgment seeing Christ has died and so satisfaction is made to Justice When we pardon an Offence which we might justly punish we do cedere de jure forbear our Right and Justice gives place to Mercy but Justice cannot pardon or acquit unless it be satisfied unless it have what is right and due according to Law Object But it is said That God pardoneth legally and judicially by virtue of the Evangelical Law so it is an Act of Justice as well as of Mercy Vid. Justiif Evang. p. 23. So Truman They say a Sinner is not pardoned by Free Grace and Absolute Pardon but upon conditions and terms required in the Gospel to be performed by him which when he hath performed the Evangelical Law doth justifie him pronounce him pardoned and so his Pardon is an Act of Justice according to the Gospel Law though not according to the Law of Works which is content with nothing but Satisfaction Answ Let any fair Disputant judge whether this 〈◊〉 not to shift the Question They have said â—â—at Justification is meer Pardon bare Pardon nothing but Pardon and yet it is not abâ—â—ute Pardon but Pardon upon condition to 〈◊〉 performed by him that will receive Pardon â—â—re not these Conditions when persormed our â—â—angelical Righteousness This they conâ—â—d for And are they not a positive Righteousness Yes they are Gospel Obedience â—â—hat sence is it then to say we are pardoned â—â—thout any positive Righteousness that Pardon alone is all our Righteousness It may be â—â—ese conditions are so small and so necessary to â—â—e receiving of pardon ex natura rei that â—â—y are not to be accounted as any righteousness Nay but in the Gospel Law all the â—â—oral Duties that were required in the Coveâ—â—nt of Works are required still though not â—â—th the same necessity of perfection And â—â—w they are much more difficult than before â—â—me Moral Duties are required also and necessary which were not directly nnd properly â—â—uties under the First Covenant as Self-deâ—â—l Mortification and bearing the Cross â—â—sides these the Gospel prescribeth new posiâ—â—e Duties which neither were nor could be â—â—uties under the Law of Works viz. Faith â—â—ve and Obedience to the Mediator with 〈◊〉 holy and reverend use of all the positive Inâ—â—tutions of the Gospel Are these small things â—â—s it necessary to meer Pardon that the pardoned should not only return to their forme Duty but also receive new Terms and Conditions which were never their Duty before If a Prince subdue Rebels and then promiâ—â— them Impunity if besides returning to theâ—â— ancient Duty and Allegiance they will receive some new Terms which he shall please to impose on them doth he freely pardon them doth he not deal with them as in a way 〈◊〉 Mercy so in a way of Soveraignty givâ—â— them new Laws and making advantage to himself and accession to his Power by occasion 〈◊〉 their misdemeanour Besides this is veâ—â— improper to talk of legal and judicial Pardon Pardon by a Law For a Law is properly preceptive and judicial Proceedings are acquiting or condemning for keeping or breakiâ—â— the Law Pardon is granted by supersedâ—â— the Sentence of the Law at least the Execution of it or by a Promise or Declaration 〈◊〉 Grace which when establisht for securitiâ—â— sake and promulgated is sometimes called aâ— Act of Grace yet it hath not the full Naturâ— of a Law It is the Soveraign Legislator whâ—â— pardoneth who hath power to relax the Execution of the Law a Law cannot pardon But the plain meaning of those men is Thâ—â— God seeing through the Fall it was become impossible for man to keep and so to be saâ—â— by the Law of Works was pleased to maâ—â— a new milder and easier Law and to declaâ—â— that if they would keep it they should 〈◊〉 pardoned and saved Pardon then with theâ—â— is nothing else but a waving of the Covenaâ—â— of Works i. e. God will not proceed with men according to that Covenant if they will submit to his new Covenant so then for all their specious words of meer Pardon to exclude Christ's Righteousness they only mean that God will not execute his First Covenant which men have broken but will save them if they fulfil his Second Covenant i. e. will be righteous and obedient according to the Gospel and thus they acknowledg a righteousness of a man 's own besides pardon whereby he must he justified 6. The Law requireth a positive righteousness by the fulfilling of it The end of every Law being obedience to it Just Evang p. 38 39. Therefore Justification cannot be Pardon of Sin without Imputation of Righteousness 'T is said That the Law of Works required a sinless perfect righteousness which Christ hath satisfied for but the Law of Grace is a better Covenant accepting an imperfect Righteousness But this is nothing to the purpose let the righteousness be
curses and natural evils may be inflicted without sin Even Arminius Episcopius and others of their chief Friends grant That God may without injustice lay temporal evils upon men without respect to sin of his own meer pleasure If Afflictions be part of the Curse to the godly it must be by some Law 2ly It cannot be by the Law of Grace for that is a remediating Law threatning no curse to them that obey it If by the Law of Works then Believers are in part still under the Law whereas the Apostle makes these inconsistent to be under the Law and under Grace Rom. 6.14 Moreover Afflictions if they be punishments must be satisfactory to Divine Justice For the Law requires nothing but in order to satisfie Divine Justice by obedience or punishment for failure and then Christ hath not redeemed us from the Curse of the Law part of it remaining for us to bare and so Christ's Redemption must be diminished he having onely purchased that the Law should not have its full force viz. to condemn us for ever but that we should have terms of grace or life eternal nevertheless that we should be left in the hands of the Law for this life that God may lay what curses upon us he pleaseth so that he save our Souls The same is to be said concerning sin and spiritual evils some sins are proper chastisements when men are suffered to run into some sins to correct them for former sins As David's Murder was a correction for his Adultery but these chastisements proceed really from the love of God though mixed with fatherly displeasure but for the general that God hath left sin in the hearts and lives of the Godly is not to satisfie his Law or the Curse but to magnifie his Grace and Wisdome in over-ruling sin and death to his own Glory and to further man's Salvation by those things which the Devil designed to undermine and overthrow both Object 6 If Faith only justifie and give right to life then is there no use of the Law to Believers nor any thing for them to do in way of obedience but only to expect that God should bring them to Heaven by his Grace to which Faith gives right as well as to life it self Answ As Faith it self is commanded though it be the work of God so is the use of all means whereby Grace is to be improved and exercised and in the use of them in dependance on God's Grace lies a Christian's Obedience The Promises of Grace and Perseverance do encourage to obedience but alter not the nature of obedience Phil. 2.12 13. As you have always obeyed c. work out your Salvation with fear and trembling For it is God that worketh in you both to will and to do of his good pleasure Our Saviour came not to dissolve the Moral Law nor gave he commission to any man to do it but requireth better obedience to it than that of the Pharisees though they expected to be justified by it Mat. 5.18 19 20. and upon all occasions he directs men to the Law as the rule of Life Mat. 19.17 Chap. 22. v. 37. c. Though Faith encourage and Love incline to good works yet these works are properly obedience because done upon the Command of God It is true the Law is not a Covenant of Works or a Law of Life to Believers promising Life to Obedience perfect or imperfect and threatning death to the want of it Nor is this essential to a Law that life and death must depend thereon though they do so upon some Laws nor is it essential to obedience that it must proceed from hope of life and fear of death For there is no such thing with Saints in Heaven where yet is perfect obedience yet is it a Rule of Obedience a Declaration of God's Will how his Children ought to walk and to please him which is the very nature of a Law But it is not necessary to the Sanction of every Law Quest that there should be Promises to obedience and Threatnings to disobedience Answ Not from the nature of a Law but because of man's infirmities it is needful Gal. 3.19 So the Gospel hath promises of Blessings in this Life peace of Conscience increase of Grace and the Fatherly Love and Presence of God to obedience and diligence and the threatning of the contrary to negligence and disobedience yea the knowledge of the Covenant of Works as it restrains the ungodly so it is of use to the godly in this life to curb the flesh and to make them more afraid of sin and to quicken them to diligence But life and death eternal are not the Sanctions of the Law as properly given to Believers But do not the sins of Believers deserve Hell and put them into a damned state Quest Answ No. They interrupt their peace with God and the Work of Grace but make them not Children of wrath their sins in their own nature tend to death as they are an aversion from God but he will recover them out of them by repentance at death if not before and they deserve death according to the Law of Works by which they must judge of the â—inousness of them and be humbled accordingly But as the Law is tempered by the Gospel they shall not bring death And deâ—â—rt of sin being obligatio ad poenam ex lege the Laws binding a man over to punishment 〈◊〉 may be truly said they do not deserve death according to the Gospel because that doth not threaten death eternal to them yet they 〈◊〉 deserve other corrections threatned thereâ—y which are more effectual to restrain the godly than the threatning of Hell is to the â—icked But doth not this open a way to Sin and Sloth Quest. â—hen men that think they are Believers shall â—hen conclude their sins shall not damn them Answ No. For it is not the promise of great Retards nor threatning of great Punishment that 〈◊〉 keep men from sin else the Angels and Adam would never have sinned but it is the certain assistance of effectual grace which can 〈◊〉 will make men obedient without such â—â—nctions by other Reasons and Motives If Christians were left to their free will as much is Adam was then would there be a necessity 〈◊〉 the like Promises and Threats to keep them 〈◊〉 their Duty but because God hath undertaken to work all our Works in us it is enough â—â—at God declare his Will to them and will make them obedient Promises and Threaâ— of another nature are added because of the infirmity of the Flesh but they could not keeâ— them in obedience if there were not a certainty of prevailing grace and when these infirmities shall be taken away then the Declaration of God's Will without any Promise 〈◊〉 Threat will be a sufficient Obligation to Obedience for ever by the perfect and full concurrence of the Grace of God For it is the Spirit of Grace that holdeth
be saved and former sins forgiven but if we fail as we may both the Curse of the Law and the Condemnation of the Gospel will fall upon us all this while we are but Probationers for life and all God's kindnesses to us spiritual and temporal are merciful encouragements to us but not the Effects of reconciliation 2ly Not the present favour of God God indeed out of his infinite goodness bestoweth many blessings for our present comfort to own and to encourage obedience but they proceed not from the Love of a Father to Children the greatest inward comfort and joys of the Godly cannot be tokens of fatherly love or certain special favour For Adoption doth certainly presuppose Justification God must 1st justify us before he be our Father and so accept our persons before he accept our obedience as the service of Children but obedience to the end being the condition of our Justification neither Justification nor Adoption nor the special Fruits of it can take place in this life and I think none will say we have inchoate adoption for God to be our Father and we to be his Children in this life imperfectly and when our obedience is compleat that Relation will be consummate also 3ly Nor joy in the hope of Glory for upon the uncertain condition of obedience which no man can be sure by this Doctrine that he shall persevere in a man can have at the most but a good probability of his Salvation mixed with fear and danger and this fear will be the greater the more serious men be and apprehensive how hard it is to enter in at the strait Gate what room then is there for great Joy and even boasting in the hope of Glory 4ly Nor joy in Tribulations Afflictions by this Doctrine are accounted some part of the curse fruits of vindicative Justice we must bear them Num. 196 197. but what great comfort can there be in them How can we be sure that they shall not sift out our Grace rather than our Chaff and that we shall have a blessed Issue of them seeing we have no Promise of any such thing but what depends only upon the condition of our own obedience 5ly Nor can the heart be filled with the sence of God's Love The largest apprehensions of the general offers of mercy and love though they may calm the Soul yet cannot make it joyful under afflictions nor fill it with joy and peace in believing and if there be a sence of Gods particular eternal love to us sealing to redemption and swallowing up all fears and the sence of other troubles as cannot be denied to have been in many Martyrs and some other Godly persons this must suppose their Salvation to be out of danger and not to depend upon conditions not yet fulfilled If Christians do here receive in some sort the end of their Faith the Salvation of their Souls and rejoyce even with joy unspeakable and full of glory and can be thankful for it then the finishing of their obedience is not the condition of it but it comes by believing 1 Pet. 1.8 9. Argument 5. If we are justifyed by obedience to the Gospel or obedience be the condition of our Justification which is all one then it may be truly said we are justifyed by love patience by self-denyal and every other grace as well and as much as by faith For these in habit and exercise are the parts of Gospel-obedience and Faith it self is but a part of the same and in it self not so noble and excellent a part as Love and some other Graces but the Scripture is wholly silent of any such matter We are never said to be justifyed by Love Patience c. but always by Faith and when it is once said Jam. 2. A man is justified by works and not by faith only Justification is taken improperly viz. That a man cannot be a true Christian and saved by Faith which brings not forth obedience If they say that it must be taken properly and that works in general include every particular Grace and so we may be said to be justifyed by them severally in part I demand how faith is opposed to works in justifying in the Apostle's Dispute about it in the Epistle to the Romans and Galatians Doth Faith signifie obedience to the Gospel flowing from Faith or a belief of it and Works perfect obedience to the Law Thus they say but I would fain know why obedience to the Gospel should be called Faith rather than obedience to the Law for Faith had as great aâ— part in it and as great influence upon that obedience as upon Gospel-obedience Adam that he might have kept the Law of God perfectly must have perfectly believed the Existence and Nature of God his Authority over him that this Law was from him that it was just and good for him to obey that the Promises and Threatnings annexed would be certainly fulfilled as there was occasion and then in the course of his Obedience he must have trusted in God for the fulfilling of every Promise which concerned each part of his Obedience and moreover that he should be happy â—â— he did persevere to the end Now Gospel-Faith according to this Doctrine doth no more it believeth that Jesus Christ is King and Saviour that he gave the Gospel as his Will and Law that if we keep it to the end we shall be saved that all the Promises and Threatnings of it in the general shall be performed and in particular as there is occasion for them in our lives only this Faith is imperfect as well as our obedience mixed with unbelief and subject to wavering why then may not Faith comprehend perfect as well as imperfect obedience or why should the latter be called Faith in opposition to the former if it be said Gospel-Faith doth also include a belief of the Pardon of Sin which Adam's Faith did not I Answer The addition of one new partial object alters not the nature of the habit Faith is Faith still though it believe some particulars under the Gospel which it did not extend to under the Law as it did then extend to some particular v. 9. perfect freedom from all trouble in the continuance of innocency which it doth not believe under the Gospel but perhaps belief of pardon may be the reason why it may be opposed to perfect works it may be the reason why imperfect works and the Faith joyned with them may be opposed to perfect works and their faith but it can be no reason why imperfect works should be called faith simply without any limitation and perfect works be called works simply as if they included no Faith Moreover the belief of pardon in the Gospel is but accidental by this Doctrine â—â— for eternal life is promised to sincere Obedience to the Precepts of the Law the direct and principle object of Gospel Faith here iâ— the promise of life to Obedience i. e. if they obey the Gospel sincerely they
such as the Law will accept perfect or imperfect it is all one if the Law doth require a positive righteousness then a man cannot be justified without it And do not they themselves teach that the Gospel requireth obedience to it as our Evangelical Righteousness therefore that cannot justifie us without a righteousness conformed to it self 'T is said further Legal Justification Ibidem i. e. according to the Law of Works requireth a fulfilling of that Law but not Evangelical Justification A fallacy in words Legal and Evangelical Justification differ not specie sed modo applicationis not in the righteousness which justifieth but in the manner of its application to us Had we fulfilled the Law of Works we had been legally justified by our own righteousness but now Christ hath fulfilled that Law for us we are still legally justified to wit by the righteousness of that Law yet in an Evangelical or Gracious manner that righteousness being not our own but Christ's imputed to us a◠shall be proved in the next Chapter and I beseech you when men are justified i. e. pardoned say you what Law is it that accuseth them for the violation whereof they are pardoned Is it not the Law of Works for i◠they break the Gospel Covenant there is n◠more sacrifice for sin There must then be a legal Justification by that Law of Works unless it be wholly waved and made void by the Gospel Object But the Law of Works is satisfied by the suffering of Christ and so pardon of all sins i◠a sufficient Justification from it Great Prop. p. 116. There needeth not Obedience and suffering too Answ The Law doth not directly and immediately require both obedience and suffering the penalty but obedience only is the end of the Law suffering the penalty is no fulfilling of or proper satisfaction to the Law but a recompence to Justice for the breach of the Law that so contempt may not lie upon it so that if the Law be broken it doth accidentally require both obedience and suffering of punishment the latter for the recompence of injured Justice that the Law may not be despised or broken impunè and the former as that which is the proper and natural end of the Law When a man suffereth the penalty of any Law the Law is so far satisfied that it can exact no farther punishment but doth he therefore deserve the rewards of the Law as if he had obeyed it He is indeed restored to his former State i. e. punishment ceaseth and he is admitted to the priviledge of other men to live in obedience to the Law for the future but he hath not the reward of obedience nor is accounted for his suffering to be upon the same terms with the obedient In like manner our Lord Christ by suffering the penalties of the Law did recompence the injured Honour and Justice of God and of the Law so that it could require no more punishment of him or of those that believe in him but he did not therefore deserve the rewards of the Law they were procured by his obedience to it It is not true of the Law of God that it requireth either to be obeyed or that the penalty should be endured for so men should obey and fulfill the Law in a sort by going to hell for breaking it The Law promised life only to obedience not to the suffering of death therefore Christ by suffering of death did fulfill what the Law required but accidentally and secondarily by reason of sin but by obeying the Law he fulfilled the primary and immediate end of the Law and so merited the promised reward There must therefore be a righteousness of conformity to the Law whereby must be procured a right to life as well as a suffering of the penalty whereby a stop is put to further punishment which is all that meer pardon of sin amounteth to Upon these grounds I take leave to describe Justification an Act whereby God doth acquit and accept a Sinner as righteous unto life eternal for the righteousness of Christ whereby he hath fulfilled the precept and suffered the penalty of the Law Justification actively taken is Gods Act acquitting or declaring a man righteous passively taken it is a mans state or relation to that Act of God being declared and accepted as righteous of which as it supposeth a change from a former state of guilt and condemnation the terminus a quo or state from which he is tranflated is a state of Sin and wrath the terminus ad quem is a state of absolution or being righteous before God pardon of sin or stop of punishment is included in it or doth immediately result from it so that Justification is one single Act and not several concurring to make it up though divers things are given or granted by it either immediately or consequentially as flowing from the immediate effect or benefit of it The main Argument against this Doctrine is That the Scripture doth frequently describe Justification by pardon and forgiveness as if they were aequipollent terms But the reason of this is First Because men being sensible of sin and misery do first look after pardon and therefore pardon is promised as that which will be most welcome and comfortable to them and also because men should be fensible of their own guilt and in capacity of making satisfaction to God and therefore that the righteousness by which they must be justified is not their own but Christs nor contrived or provided by them but by God himself for them What then Justification is called pardon of sin ergò it is nothing else but Pardon This is no consequence Object But the Apostle Rom. 4. fully describeth Justification the nature of it and he saith v. 6 7. That Blessedness cometh by forgiving Justif Evang p. 27. covering not imputing sin Answ But he saith also Abraham believed God and it was accounted to him for righteousness Now in the place here quoted Gen. 15.6 and the context there is a promise of positive Blessing made to Abraham and he believed that promise and this was accounted to him for righteousness Shall we say Abraham believed and this was accounted for pardon of sin There is a positive righteousness intimated as well as a positive act whereby it was procur'd and appli'd and positive promises granted thereupon David indeed under great horrors for his sin comforts himself most with apprehensions of forgiveness as most suitable to his case but what good will the fullest pardon imaginable do a man without a certain right to eternal life and a promise of effectual Grace to bring him to it will he not sin again and so lose the benefit of his former pardon Object But a Sinner is capable of no other righteousness but that of forgiveness Answ What then must become of the Evangelical Righteousness of Faith and Works which they contend for A Sinner can have no other righteousness but
Divines at Dort Rationes omnes Act. Syn. Art 2. Ibid. à scripturis fideique analogia petitae quibus Christi incarnatio humiliatio vel exaltatio probatur vel confirmatur eò spectant ut demonstretur divina expressa intentio de fructuoso hujus tanti mysterii effectu non conditionaliter producendo nempe si homines cùm aeque nolle possint velint ut hic fructus in de enascatur sed infrustrabiliter efficiendo potentiâ divinâ id operante i. e. All those Arguments that prove the Incarnation Humiliation and Exaltation of Christ tend to this to shew that it was God's express intention to produce the certain effects of that great Mystery infallibly by his own power and not to leave them to be conditional depending upon Man's Will who might as well neglect and refuse as accept of them I conclude the Sum of this Doctrine comes to this That God took occasion by the Incarnation Obedience and Death of our Lord Jesus Christ to grant men terms of Salvation viz. if they should believe and obey the Gospel not as any satisfaction to his Justice or Law which man had broke but as some kind of salvo to his Honour at least as he was pleased to interpret it And what need Christ have been God to do no more than this How easie is the slip from hence into the dead Sea of Socinianism To lay that Christ came by his Life and Death to declare and confirm only this Covenant of Life on condition of Faith and Repentance and to intercede for the Penitents Indeed the whole platform of this Doctrine was borrowed from Socinus by the Arminians from whom most of our modern Writers have it and some immediately from the Socinian from whom also came that common but illogical Evasion of works being not the meritorious but the causa sine qua non of our Justification Opera ea sunt ex quibus justificamur sunt autem opera ista nostra Soc. de Justif apud Pelt i. e. ut dictum fuit obedientia quam Christo praestamus licet nec essiciens nec meritoria tamen causa ut vocant sine qua non justificationis coram Deo at que aeterne salut is nostrae I do not desire this should be believed on my credit much less do I write to reproach any who do in heart abhor that blasphemous heresie however their words and notions may agree too much with it I only beg that Scholars and Divines would take the pains to examin and compare them before they imbibe this new Doctrine CHAP. VII Of the Nature of Faith that it justifieth as an Instrument applying the Promises of life in Christ and not as a Condition or Part of Obedience T The Apostle Paul was sent to preach the Gospel to the Gentiles Act. 26. v. 17 18. to this end that they might receive the forgiveness of sins and an inheritance amongst thom which are sanctified by Faith which is in Christ therefore forgiveness and a right to the heavenly Inheritance comes by Faith But what this Faith is and how it gives right to Life is now to be inquired into In explaining the nature of Faith I shall wave all that is usually drawn from Philosophy to this Argument from the nature and difference of Man's Soul and his Faculties and the difference of the Faculties from each other also from the nature of Habits intellectual or moral which things are fit Exercises for Scholars but not fit to build the Doctrine of Justification and Eternal life upon and if the best Philosophers can give us no certain account how men see and hear and how the external Senses which yet are more material in their operations than the understanding do exercise their functions there is much less certainty to be had concerning the Faculties Operations and Habits of the rational part and the Scripture speaks of believing as a work of the whole Soul With the heart man believeth unto righteousness Rom. 10.9 The like may be said of every Grace and of every Sin that hath the consent of the Heart that they carry the whole Soul with them What then is this Faith The Socinians affirm Faith and Obedience to be really the same thing Peltius Artic. Parag. 21. distinct only formally or docendi causâ Soc. resp ad Epist Joan. Opera Fides nullo modo distinguuntur à Paulo nec ab ea seperari queant imò animo seu forma fidei sunt The Arminians agree with them in this and our late Authors with them both and make believing and obeying the Gospel all one and to be justified by Faith with them is to be justified by obedience to the Gospel Aphor. Th. 70. Hence it is that they describe Faith to be so to believe God as to love him fear him trust him and obey him in every particular command or more briefly to be an accepting of Christ for our Lord and Saviour i. e. to promise obedience to him Ibid. 69 67. and to desire and expect to be saved by him Now we grant as the Gospel is sometime taken for the whole Doctrine or Mind of Christ containing both Promises Precepts and Threatnings though properly it be nothing but a Promise of Life through Christ in contradistinction to all Law and Precepts so also the Faith of Christ and of the Gospel doth sometimes comprehend the whole Christian Profession whereby we promise both a belief of the doctrine and obedience to the Command of Christ Yet Faith taken properly is to be distinguished from all obediential Graces viz. those that are the immediate cause of obedience as much as those graces are distinct from each from other as Love from Fear both from Patience c. That we may wave that Philosophical question also whether Graces be several distinct habits or one universal habit distinguished by several acts and objects it is sufficient if Faith be distinct by its acts and proper object from all other graces as much as they are distinguished each from other And that it is so is evident because it is an assent of the mind to divinely revealed truth Its acts are to believe or assent its formal object is the revealed truth of God as such we speak of Divine Faith only The immediate End of it is the satisfaction of the mind in the certainty of a true proposition and the like All these are distinct from love fear desire which are the immediate principles of all obedience or practice in doing good or avoiding evil Moreover Faith is the root of obedience not as the immediate principle of the elicite acts of obedience but as a more remote principle which doth excite and direct all the immediate principles of it Thus Faith is prerequired to seeking and serving of God Heb. 11.2 to the End and yet the immediate principles of them were fear v. 7. self-denial v. 25. holy courage contempt of the World and the like Faith worketh by love Gal. 5.6 purifieth the
Argument 4. We are justifyed by Christ as Priest p. 24. Prophet and King conjunctly and not by any of these alone much less by his Humiliation and Obedience alone then according to the Opponents own Principles who argue from the distinct interest of the several parts of the Objects to the distinct interest of the several acts of Faith we are justified by believing in Christ as Priest Prophet and King Answ Faith as a distinct habit hath no acts but practical assent to a revealed truth which in respect of the promise is called trust or affiance One habit hath but one sort of elicite acts though it may cause divers effects upon the will and affections according to the nature of divers objects therefore we do not argue from the distinct interest of several acts of Faith but from Faith as trusting in the Promise of Justification as the special object of the act that justifieth Again the Object of justifying Faith according to this Opinion must be the whole declared Will of Christ or the whole Gospel for that is it which we believe and obey and Obedience to it is the form or righteousness by and for which we are justifyed therefore those Terms of Christ's justifying in his whole Person and all his Offices or Faith justifying with respect to them are added in vain they being no more included in the nature of Justification or respected by Faith as justifying in this way than in ours The promise of life by Christ to believing only is as much founded upon his whole Person and all his Offices as if the promise were made to our Obedience to the whole Gospel But we deny the Antecedent let us hear the proof The Word Justification signifieth these 3 acts p. 24. 1st Condonation or constitutive Justification by the Law of grace or promise of the Gospel 2ly Absolution by sentence in judgment 3ly The execution of the former by actual liberation from penalty The two former are more properly called Justification As for the first I argue Christ doth as King and Benefactor on supposition of his antecedent Merits enact the Law of grace or promise by which we are justified Ergò As King and Benefactour he doth justifie us by condonation or constitution As the Father by a right of Creation was Rector of the new created World and so made the Covenant of Life that was then made so the Son and the Father by right of Redemption is Rector of the new redeemed World and so made the Law of grace that gives Christ and life to all that will believe c. Answ Christ as God the same in substance with the Father did together with him enact both the Covenants of Works and of Grace but as Mediator which only is to our purpose he did not enact the Covenant or Law of Grace and it is only said that he did and not proved It was God as God and in special the Father according to the order of the Three Persons that gave the Law of Works that was offended by sin that condemned sinners and therefore he only that could appoint a way whereby they should be saved and he only coul justifie him Christ as Mediator though God in Nature yet in Office was God's Servant Isa 53.11 Mat. 12 18. and his business was not to enact Laws or constitute a way for Man's Redemption but to work out and bring to pass that way which God purchased and to fulfil his Will in it Heb. 10.7 which he did first by satisfying the Law and purchasing Reconciliation as a Priest then by declaring as a Prophet that Pardon was to be had by believing in his Bloud and Lastly as a King yet ministerial under the Father by overpouring the hearts of Gods Elect to believe that God might justify them and then by sanctifying and ruling them by his Word and Spirit to bring them to life It belongeth to the Father to justifie constitutively i. e. to propose the way wherein Men should be justified and through believing to justifie them to the Mediator almost but ministerially to declare it to Men by authority from the Father but most properly to bring it to pass by the execution of all his Offices Rom. 8.33 34. It is God that justifies it is Christ that died rose and intercedeth p. 25. 2ly It is said Justification by sentence of judgment is undeniably by Christ as King for God hath appointed to judge the World by him Acts 17.31 c. Answ Christ in judging the World is but a ministerial King For God is the Supream Judg Heb. 12.23 however we deny what is here took for granted That the sentence of the General Judgment is a declaration of a sinners Justification from the guilt of sin It is only the adjudging of justified Believers to Glory in Heaven for their Obedience according to Gods Fatherly promise p. 25. 3ly It is said For the execution of the sentence by actual liberation there can be little doubt being after both the former Answ Christ is ministerial in this also for he calleth Believers to inherit the Kingdom as being the blessed of the Father and it being prepared for them from the beginning of the World Mat. 25.34 Besides Glory in Heaven is a fruit of Adoption not of Justification immediately and Adoption is the act of the Father not of the Mediator And let it be observed That here all Justification is referred to Christ as King properly and immediately as was before said and he as Priest and Prophet did but make way for his justifying of us as King and therefore these offices are mentioned in the Question only for a shew that they acknowledge we are justifyed by his Bloud This is in effect confessed in the following words As the Teacher of the Church Christ doth not immediately justify but yet mediately he doth Ibid. and it is but mediately that he justifyeth by his Merits It is also said That Christ's granting the Promise or Act of Grace is the true natural p. 25. efficient instrumental Cause of Justification even the immediate Cause So then the whole Gospel as to be obeyed by us is the proper and immediate Instrument of our Justification and our obedience to the Gospel together with God's acceptance of it is the only internal Cause of Justification or the Righteousness for which we are justifyed and Christ's Merit and Righteousness and his Promulgation of the Gospel are but extrinsecal remote and preparatory Causes of it and these not absolutely necessary seeing these Authors do not deny but that God might have saved man without satisfaction and then it will follow if a man obey the Precepts of the Gospel and acknowledge Christ as Lord and King he may be saved although he believe only in a Glorified Saviour as the Jesuites preached to the people of China yea I understand not but a Socinian may be saved by obeying the Gospel though he deny the Merit of Christ having