for himself in a way of Duty And the truth is if the Obedience of Christ had respect unto himself only that is If he yielded it unto God on the necessity of his condition and did not do it for us I see no foundation left to assert his merit upon no more then I do for the Imputation of it unto them that believe That which we plead is That the Lord Christ fulfilled the whole Law for us he did not only undergo the penalty of it due unto our sins but also yielded that perfect Obedience which it did require And herein I shall not immix my self in the debate of the distinction between the Active and Passive Obedience of Christ. For he exercised the highest Active Obedience in his suffering when he offered himself to God through the Eternal Spirit And all his Obedience considering his Person was mixed with suffering as a part of his Exinanition and Humiliation whence it is said That though he were a Son yet learned he obedience by the things that he suffered And however doing and suffering are in various categories of things yet Scripture testimonies are not to be regulated by Philosophical artifices and terms And it must needs be said that the Sufferings of Christ as they were purely penal are imperfectly called His passive Righteousness For all Righteousness is either in habit or in action whereof suffering is neither nor is any Man righteous or so esteemed from what he suffereth Neither do sufferings give satisfaction unto the commands of the Law which require only Obedience And hence it will unavoidably follow that we have need of more then the meer sufferings of Christ whereby we may be justified before God if so be that any Righteousness be required thereunto But the whole of what I intend is That Christs fulfilling of the Law in Obedience unto its commands is no less imputed unto us for our Justification then his undergoing the Penalty of it is I cannot but judge it sounds ill in the ears of all Christians That the Obedience of our Lord Jesus Christ as our Mediator and Surety unto the whole Law of God was for himself alone and not for us or that what he did therein was not that he might be the end of the Law for Righteousness unto them that do believe nor a means of the fulfilling of the Righteousness of the Law in us especially considering that the Faith of the Church is That he was given to us born to us that for us Men and for our salvation he came down from Heaven and did and suffered what was required of him But whereas some who deny the Imputation of the Obedience of Christ unto us for our Justification do insist principally on the second thing mentioned namely the unusefulness of it I shall under this first part of the charge consider only the Arguings of Socinus which is the whole of what some at present do indeavor to perplex the truth withal To this purpose is his discourse Part 3. cap. 5. de Servat Jam vero manifestum est Christum quia homo natus fuerat quidem ut inquit Paulus factus sub lege legi divinae inquam quae aeterna immutabilis est non minus quam caeteri homines obnoxium fuisse Alioqui potuisset Christus aeternam Dei legem negligere sive etiam universam si voluisset infringere quod impium est vel cogitare Immo ut supra alicubi explicatum fuit nisi ipse Christus legi divinae servandae obnoxius fuisset ut ex Pauli verbis colligitur non potuisset iis qui ei legi servandae obnoxii sunt opem ferre eos ad immortalitatis firmam spem traducere Non differebat igitur hac quidem ex parte Christus quando homo natus erat a caeteris hominibus Quocirca nec etiam pro aliis magis quam quilibet alius homo legem divinam conservando satisfacere potuit quippe qui ipse eam servare omnino debuit I have transcribed his words that it may appear with whose weapons some young Disputers among our selves do contend against the Truth The substance of his Plea is That our Lord Jesus Christ was for himself or on his own account obliged unto all that obedience which he performed And this he indeavors to prove with this Reason Because if it were otherwise then he might if he would have neglected the while Law of God and have broken it at his pleasure For he forgot to consider That if he were not obliged unto it upon his own account but was so on ours whose cause he had undertaken the obligation on him unto most perfect obedience was equal to what it would have been had he been originally obliged on his own account However hence he infers that what he did could not be for us because it was so for himself no more then what any other man is bound to do in a way of duty for himself can be esteemed to have been done also for another For he will allow of none of those considerations of the Person of Christ which makes what he did and suffered of another nature and efficacy then what can be done or suffered by any other Man All that he adds in the process of his discourse is That what ever Christ did that was not required by the Law in general was upon the especial command of God and so done for himself whence it cannot be imputed unto us And hereby he excludes the Church from any benefit by the Mediation of Christ but only what consists in his Doctrine Example and the Exercise of his Power in Heaven for our good which was the thing that he aimed at But we shall consider those also which make use of his Arguments though not as yet openly unto all his Ends. To clear the Truth herein the things insuing must be observed 1. The Obedience we treat of was the Obedience of Christ the Mediator But the Obedience of Christ as the Mediator of the Covenant was the Obedience of his Person For God redeemed his Church with his own Blood Acts 20.28 It was performed in the Humane Nature but the Person of Christ was he that performed it As in the Person of a Man some of his acts as to the immediate principle of operation are acts of the Body and some are so of the Soul yet in their performance and accomplishment are they the acts of the Person So the Acts of Christ in his Mediation as to their 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 or immediate operation were the actings of his distinct Natures some of the Divine and some of the Humane immediately But as unto their 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 and the perfecting efficacy of them they were the Acts of his whole Person His Acts who was that Person and whose Power of Operation was a property of his Person Wherefore the Obedience of Christ which we plead to have been for us was the Obedience of the Son of God but
our selves and all occasion of it every thing that might give countenance unto it so as that the whole might be to the praise of his own Grace by Christ Rom. 3.27 1 Cor. 1.29 30 31. How it is Faith alone that gives glory to God herein hath been declared in the Description of its nature But it is evident that no man hath or can have possibly any other any greater occasion of boasting in himself with respect unto his Justification then that he is justified on his performance of that condition of it which consists in his own personal Righteousness 2. No man was ever justified by it in his own Conscience much less can he be justified by it in the sight of God For God is greater then our Hearts and knoweth all things There is no man so Righteous so Holy in the whole World nor ever was but his own Conscience would charge him in many things with his coming short of the Obedience required of him in matter or manner in the kind or degrees of perfection For there is no man that liveth and sinneth not Absolutely Nemo absolvitur se judice Let any man be put unto a Trial in himself whether he can be justified in his own Conscience by his own Righteousness and he will be cast in the Trial at his own Judgment seat And he that doth not thereon conclude that there must be another Righteousness whereby he must be justified that originally and inherently is not his own will be at a loss for peace with God But it will be said that men may be justified in their Consciences that they have performed the condition of the new Covenant which is all that is pleaded with respect unto this Righteousness And I no way doubt but that men may have a comfortable perswasion of their own sincerity in Obedience and satisfaction in the Acceptance of it with God But it is when they try it as an effect of Faith whereby they are justified and not as the condition of their Justification Let it be thus stated in their minds that God requireth a personal Righteousness in order unto their Justification whereon their Determination must be this is my Righteousness which I present unto God that I may be justified and they will find difficulty in arriving at it if I be not much mistaken 3. None of the Holy men of old whose Faith and Experience are recorded in the Scripture did ever plead their own personal Righteousness under any Notion of it either as to the merit of their Works or as unto their compleat performance of what was required of them as the condition of the Covenant in order unto their Justification before God This hath been spoken unto before CHAP. XI The nature of the Obedience that God requireth of us The Eternal obligation of the Law thereunto OUr second Argument shall be taken from the nature of that Obedience or Righteousness which God requireth of us that we may be accepted of him and approved by him This being a large subject if fully to be handled I shall reduce what is of our present concernment in it unto some special Heads or Observations 1. God being a most perfect and therefore a most free Agent all his actings towards mankind all his dealings with them all his Constitutions and Laws concerning them are to be resolved into his own Soveraign will and pleasure No other reason can be given of the Original of the whole Systeme of them This the Scripture testifieth unto Psal. 115.3.135.6 Prov. 16.4 Ephes. 1.9 11. Rev. 4.11 The being existence and natural circumstances of all Creatures being an effect of the free Counsel and pleasure of God all that belongs unto them must be ultimately resolved thereinto 2. Upon a supposition of some free Acts of the will of God and the execution of them constituting an order in the things that outwardly are of him and their mutual respect unto one another some things may become necessary in this Relative state whose being was not absolutely necessary in its own nature The order of all things and their mutual respect unto one another depends on Gods free Constitution no less then their being absolutely But upon a supposition of that Constitution things have in that order a necessary Relation one to another and all of them unto God Wherefore 3. It was a free Soveraign act of Gods will to create effect or produce such a Creature as man is that is of a nature intelligent rational capable of moral Obedience with Rewards and Punishments But on supposition hereof man so freely made could not be governed any other ways but by a moral Instrument of Law or Rule influencing the rational faculties of his Soul unto Obedience and guiding him therein He could not in that constitution be contained under the Rule of God by a mere Physical influence as are all irrational or brute Creatures To suppose it is to deny or destroy the essential faculty and powers wherewith he was created Wherefore on the supposition of his being it was necessary that a Law or Rule of Obedience should be prescribed unto him and be the Instrument of Gods Government towards him 4. This necessary Law so far forth as it was necessary did immediately and unavoidably ensue upon the constitution of our natures in Relation unto God Supposing the nature being and properties of God with the works of Creation on the one hand and suppose the being existence and the nature of man with his necessary Relation unto God on the other and the Law whereof we speak is nothing but the Rule of that Relation which can neither be nor be preserved without it Hence is this Law eternal indispensable admitting of no other variation than doth the Relation between God and man which is a necessary exurgence from their distinct natures and properties 5. The substance of this Law was that man adhering unto God absolutely universally unchangeably uninterruptedly in trust love and fear as the chiefest good the first Author of his being of all the present and future Advantages whereof it was capable should yield Obedience unto him with respect unto his infinite Wisdom Righteousness and Almighty Power to protect reward and punish in all things known to be his will and pleasure either by the light of his own mind or especial Revelation made unto him And it is evident that no more is required unto the constitution and establishment of this Law but that God be God and Man be Man with the necessary Relation that must thereon ensue between them Wherefore 6. This Law doth eternally and unchangeably oblige all men unto Obedience to God even that Obedience which it requires and in the manner wherein it requires it For both the substance of what it requires and the manner of the performance of it as unto measures and degrees are equally necessary and unalterable upon the suppositions laid down For God cannot deny himself nor is the nature of man changed as unto the
3.9 2 Cor. 4.6 The nature of Faith thence declared Faith alone ascribes and gives this glory to God Order of the Acts of Faith or the method in believing Convictions previous thereunto Sincere assent unto all Divine Revelations Acts 26.27 The Proposal of the Gospel unto that end Rom. 10.11 12 13 c. 2 Cor. 3.18 State of Persons called to believe Justifying Faith doth not consist in any one single habit or act of the Mind or Will The nature of that assent which is the first Act of Faith Approbation of the Way of Salvation by Christ comprehensive of the special nature of justifying Faith What is included therein 1. A Renuntiation of all other ways Hos. 14.2 3. Jer. 3.23 Psal. 7.16 Rom. 10.3 2. Consent of the Will unto this Way Joh. 14.6 3. Acquiescency of the Heart in God 1 Pet. 1.21 Trust in God Faith described by Trust the Reason of it Nature and Object of this Trust inquired into A double consideration of special Mercy Whether Obedience be included in the nature of Faith or be of the essence of it A sincere purpose of Vniversal Obedience inseparable from Faith How Faith alone justifieth Repentance how required in and unto Justification How a condition of the New Covenant Perseverance in Obedience is so also Definitions of Faith Pag. 125. CHAP. III. Vse of Faith in Justification various Conceptions about it By whom asserted as the Instrument of it by whom denied In what sense it is affirmed so to be The expressions of the Scripture concerning the use of Faith in Justification what they are and how they are best explained By an Instrumental Cause Faith how the Instrument of God in Justification How the Instrument of them that do believe The use of Faith expressed in the Scripture by apprehending receiving declared by an Instrument Faith in what sense the condition of our Justification Signification of that Term whence to be Learned Pag. 146. CHAP. IV. The proper sense of these words Justification and to justifie considered Necessity thereof Latine derivation of Justification Some of the Antients deceived by it From Jus and Justum Justus filius who The Hebrew 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Vse and signification of it Places where it is used examined 2 Sam. 15.4 Deut. 21.5 Prov. 17.15 Isa. 5.23 Chap. 50.8 1 King 8.31 32. 2 Chro. 6.22 23. Psal. 82.3 Exod. 23.7 Isa. 53.11 Jere. 44.16 Dan. 12.3 The constant sense of the word evinced 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Vse of it in other Authors to punish What it is in the New Testament Matth. 11.19 Chap. 12.37 Luk. 7.29 Chap. 10.29 Chap. 16.15 Chap. 18.14 Acts 13.38 39. Rom. 2.13 Chap. 3.4 Constantly used in a forensick sense Places seeming dubious vindicated Rom. 8.30 1 Cor. 6.11 Tit. 3.5 6 7. Revel 22.11 How often these words 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 and 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 are used in the New Testament Constant sense of this The same evinced from what is opposed unto it Isa. 50.8 Prov. 17.15 Rom. 5.16 18. Rom. 8.33 34. And the Declaration of it in Terms equivalent Rom. 4.6 7. Rom. 5.9 10. 2 Cor. 5.20 21. Matth. 1.21 Acts 13.39 Gal. 2.16 c. Justification in the Scripture proposed under a Juridical Scheam and of a forensick Title The Parts and Progress of it Instances from the whole Pag. 169. c. CHAP. V. Distinction of a First and Second Justification The whole Doctrine of the Roman Church concerning Justification grounded on this Distinction The First Justification the nature and causes of it according unto the Romanists The Second Justification what it is in their sense Solution of the seeming Difference between Paul and James falsly pretended by this Distinction The same Distinction received by the Socinians and others The latter termed by some the continuation of our Justification The Distinction disproved Justification considered either as unto its Essence or its Manifestation The Manifestation of it twofold initial and final Initial is either unto our selves or others No Second Justification hence insues Justification before God Legal and Evangelical Their distinct natures The Distinction mentioned derogatory to the Merit of Christ. More in it ascribed unto our selves then unto the Blood of Christ in our Justification The vanity of Disputations to this purpose All true Justification everthrown by this Distinction No countenance given unto this Justification in the Scripture The Second Justification not intended by the Apostle James Evil of Arbitrary Distinctions Our First Justification so described in the Scripture as to leave no room for a Second Of the Continuation of our Justification Whether it depend on Faith alone or our Personal Righteousness inquired Justification at once compleated in all Causes and Effects of it proved at large Believers upon their Justification obliged unto perfect Obedience The commanding Power of the Law constitutes the nature of Sin in them who are not obnoxious unto its curse Future Sins in what sense remitted at our First Justification The Continuation of Actual Pardon and thereby of a justified Estate on what it doth depend Continuation of Justification the act of God whereon it depends in that sense On our part it depends on Faith alone Nothing required hereunto but the Application of Righteousness imputed The Continuation of our Justification is before God That whereon the Continuation of our Justification depends pleadable before God This not our Personal Obedience proved 1. By the experience of all Believers 2. Testimonies of Scripture 3. Examples The Distinction mentioned rejected Pag. 189. CHAP. VI. Evangelical Personal Righteousness the nature and use of it Whether there be an Evangelical Justification on our Evangelical Righteousness inquired into How this is by some affirmed and applauded Evangelical Personal Righteousness asserted as the condition of our Legal Righteousness or the Pardon of Sin Opinion of the Socinians Personal Righteousness required in the Gospel Believers hence denominated Righteous Not with respect unto Righteousness habitual but actual only Inherent Righteousness the same with Sanctification or Holiness In what sense we may be said to be justified by Inherent Righteousness No Evangelical Justification on our Personal Righteousness The Imputation of the Righteousness of Christ doth not depend thereon None have this Righteousness but they are untecedently justified A charge before God in all Justification before God The Instrument of this charge the Law or the Gospel From neither of them can we be justified by this Personal Righteousness The Justification pretended needless and useless It hath not the nature of any Justification mentioned in the Scripture but is contrary to all that is so called Other Arguments to the same purpose Sentential Justification at the last day Nature of the last Judgment Who shall be then justified A Declaration of Righteousness and an Actual Admission unto Glory the whole of Justification at the last day The Argument that we are justified in this life in the same manner and on the same Grounds as we shall be judged at the last day
〈◊〉 I Paul have written it with my own hand that he would answer for both and pay back a valuable consideration if required Hereby was he obliged in his own person to make satisfaction unto Philemon but yet he was to do it for Onesimus and not for himself Whatever Obedience therefore was due from the Lord Christ as to his Humane Nature whilest in the form of a servant either as a Man or as an Israelite seeing he was so not necessarily by the necessity of nature for himself but by voluntary condescension and stipulation for us for us it was and not for himself 5. The Lord Christ in his Obedience was not a private but a publick person He obeyed as he was the Surety of the Covenant as the Mediator between God and Man This I suppose will not be denied He can by no imagination be considered out of that capacity But what a publick person doth as a publick person that is as a Representative of others and an undertaker for them whatever may be his own concernment therein he doth it not for himself but for others And if others were not concerned therein if it were not for them what he doth would be of no use or signification Yea it implies a contradiction that any one should do any thing as a publick person and do it for himself only He who is a publick person may do that wherein he alone is concerned but he cannot do so as he is a publick person Wherefore as Socinus and those that follow him would have Christ to have offered for himself which is to make him a Mediator for himself his offering being a Mediatory act which is both foolish and impious so to affirm his Mediatory Obedience his Obedience as a publick person to have been for himself and not for others hath but little less of impiety in it 6. It is granted That the Lord Christ having an Humane Nature which was a Creature it was impossible but that it should be subject unto the Law of Creation For there is a Relation that doth necessarily arise from and depend upon the Beings of a Creator and a Creature Every rational Creature is eternally obliged from the Nature of God and its Relation thereunto to love him obey him depend upon him submit unto him and to make him its End Blessedness and Reward But the Law of Creation thus considered doth not respect the World and this life only but the future state of Heaven and Eternity also And this Law the Humane Nature of Christ is subject unto in Heaven and Glory and cannot but be so whilest it is a Creature and not God that is whilest it hath its own Being Nor do any Men fancy such a transfusion of divine properties into the Humane Nature of Christ as that it should be self-subsisting and in it self absolutely immense for this would openly destroy it Yet none will say that he is now 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 under the Law in the sense intended by the Apostle But the Law in the sense described the Humane Nature of Christ was subject unto on its own account whilest he was in this World And this is sufficient to answer the Objection of Socinus mentioned at the entrance of this Discourse namely That if the Lord Christ were not obliged unto Obedience for himself then might he if he would neglect the whole Law or infringe it For besides that it is a foolish imagination concerning that holy thing which was hypostatically united unto the Son of God and thereby rendered incapable of any deviation from the Divine Will the eternal indispensible Law of Love Adherence and Dependance on God under which the Humane Nature of Christ was and is as a Creature gives sufficient security against such Suppositions But there is another consideration of the Law of God namely as it is imposed on Creatures by especial dispensation for some time and for some certain end with some Considerations Rules and Orders that belong not essentially unto the Law as before described This is the nature of the Written Law of God which the Lord Christ was made under not necessarily as a Creature but by especial dispensation For the Law under this consideration is presented unto us as such not absolutely and eternally but whilest we are in this World and that with this especial end that by Obedience thereunto we may obtain the reward of Eternal Life And it is evident that the Obligation of the Law under this consideration ceaseth when we come to the injoyment of that Reward It obligeth us no more formally by its command Do this and live when the life promised is injoyed In this sense the Lord Christ was not made subject unto the Law for himself nor did yield obedience unto it for himself For he was not obliged unto it by virtue of his created condition Upon the first instant of the Vnion of his natures being holy harmless undefiled and separate from sinners he might notwithstanding the Law that he was made subject unto have been stated in Glory For he that was the object of all Divine Worship needed not any new Obedience to procure for him a state of Blessedness And had he naturally meerly by virtue of his being a Creature been subject unto the Law in this sense he must have been so eternally which he is not For those things which depend solely on the Natures of God and the Creature are eternal and immutable Wherefore as the Law in this sense was given unto us not absolutely but with respect unto a future state and reward so the Lord Christ did voluntarily subject himself unto it for us and his Obedience thereunto was for us and not for himself These things added unto what I have formerly written on this subject whereunto nothing hath been opposed but a few impertinent cavils are sufficient to discharge the first part of that charge laid down before concerning the impossibility of the Imputation of the Obedience of Christ unto us which indeed is equal unto the Impossibility of the Imputation of the Disobedience of Adam unto us whereby the Apostle tells us That we were all made sinners The second part of the Objection or Charge against the Imputation of the Obedience of Christ unto us is That it is useless unto the persons that are to be justified For whereas they have in their Justification the pardon of all their sins they are thereby righteous and have a right or title unto Life and Blessedness For he who is so pardoned as not to be esteemed guilty of any sin of omission or commission wants nothing that is requisite thereunto For he is supposed to have done all that he ought and to have omitted nothing required of him in a way of duty Hereby he becomes not unrighteous and to be not unrighteous is the same as to be righteous As he that is not dead is alive Neither is there nor can there be any middle state between Death and life Wherefore
acquit the sinner upon his tryal But pardon on a juridical tryal on what consideration soever it be granted gives no right nor title unto any favor benefit or priviledge but only meer deliverance It is one thing to be acquitted before the Throne of a King of Crimes laid unto the charge of any Man which may be done by clemency or on other considerations another to be made his Son by Adoption and Heir unto his Kingdom And these things are represented unto us in the Scripture as distinct and depending on distinct causes So are they in the Vision concerning Joshua the High Priest Zech. 3.4 5 And he answered and spake unto those that stood before him saying Take away the filthy garments from him And unto him he said Behold I have caused thine iniquity to pass from thee and I will cloath thee with change of rayment And I said Let them set a fair Miter upon his Head so they set a fair Miter on his Head and cloathed him with garments It hath been generally granted That we have here a Representation of the Justification of a sinner before God And the taking away of filthy garments is expounded by the passing away of iniquity When a Mans filthy garments are taken away he is no more defiled with them but he is not thereby cloathed This is an additional grace and favor thereunto namely to be cloathed with change of garments And what this rayment is is declared Isa. 61.10 He hath cloathed me with the garments of Salvation he hath covered me with the robe of Righteousness which the Apostle alludes unto Phil. 3.9 Wherefore these things are distinct namely the taking away of the filthy garments and the cloathing of us with change of rayment or the pardon of sin and the robe of Righteousness by the one are we freed from Condemnation by the other have we right unto Salvation And the same is in like manner represented Ezek. 16.6 7 8 9 10 11 12. This place I had formerly urged to this purpose about Communion with God p. 187. which Mr. Hotch in his usual manner attempts to answer And to omit his reviling expressions with the crude unproved assertion of his own conceits his answer is That by the change of rayment mentioned in the Prophet our own personal righteousness is intended For he acknowledgeth that our Justification before God is here represented And so also he expounds the place produced in the confirmation of the Exposition given Isai. 61.10 where this change of rayment is called The garments of Salvation and the robe of Righteousness and thereon affirms That our Righteousness it self before God is our Personal Righteousness p. 203. That is in our Justification before him which is the only thing in question To all which Presumptions I shall oppose only the testimony of the same Prophet which he may consider at his leisure and which at one time or other he will subscribe unto Chap. 64.6 We are all as an unclean thing and all our Righteousnesses are as filthy rags He who can make garments of Salvation and robes of Righteousness of these filthy rags hath a skill in composing Spiritual Vestments that I am not acquainted withal What remains in the Chapter wherein this Answer is given unto that testimony of the Scripture I shall take no notice of it being after his accustomed manner only a perverse wresting of my words unto such a sense as may seem to countenance him in casting a reproach upon my self and others There is therefore no force in the comparing of these things unto life and death natural which are immediately opposed So that he who is not dead is alive and he who is alive is not dead there being no distinct state between that of life and death For these things being of different natures the comparison between them is no way argumentative Though it may be so in things natural it is otherwise in things Moral and Political where a proper Representation of Justification may be taken as it is forensick If it were so that there is no difference between being acquitted of a crime at the Bar of a Judge and a Right unto a Kingdom nor different state between these things it would prove that there is no intermediate estate between being pardoned and having a Right unto the Heavenly Inheritance But this is a fond imagination It is true That Right unto Eternal Life doth succeed unto freedom from the guilt of Eternal Death That they may receive forgiveness of sins and an inheritance among them that are sanctified But it doth not so do out of a necessity in the nature of the things themselves but only in the free constitution of God Believers have the pardon of sin and an immediate Right and Title unto the favor of God the Adoption of Sons and Eternal Life But there is another state in the nature of the things themselves and this might have been so actually had it so seemed good unto God For who sees not that there is a Status or Conditio Personae wherein he is neither under the guilt of Condemnation nor hath an immediate Right and Title unto Glory in the way of Inheritance God might have pardoned Men all their sins past and placed them in a state and condition of seeking Righteousness for the future by the Works of the Law that so they might have lived For this would answer the original state of Adam But God hath not done so true but whereas he might have done so it is evident that the disposal of Men into this state and condition of Right unto Life and Salvation doth not depend on nor proceed from the pardon of sin but hath another cause which is the Imputation of the Righteousness of Christ unto us as he fulfilled the Law for us And in truth this is the opinion of the most of our Adversaries in this cause For they do contend that over and above the remission of sin which some of them say is absolute without any respect unto the merit or satisfaction of Christ others refer it unto them they all contend that there is moreover a Righteousness of Works required unto our Justification only they say this is our own incomplete imperfect Righteousness imputed unto us as if it were perfect that is for what it is not and not the Righteousness of Christ imputed unto us for what it is From what hath been discoursed it is evident that unto our Justification before God is required Not only that we be freed from the damnatory sentence of the Law which we are by the pardon of sin but moreover that the Righteousness of the Law be fulfilled in us or that we have a Righteousness answering the Obedience that the Law requires whereon our acceptance with God through the riches of his Grace and our Title unto the heavenly Inheritance do depend This we have not in and of our selves nor can attain unto as hath been proved Wherefore the perfect Obedience and