that Judgment being according unto Works answered and the Impertinency of it declared Pag. 211. CHAP. VII Imputation and the nature of it The first express Record of Justification determineth it to be by Imputation Gen. 15.6 Reasons of it The Doctrine of Imputation cleared by Paul the occasion of it Maligned and opposed by many Weight of the Doctrine concerning Imputation of Righteousness on all hands acknowledged Judgment of the Reformed Churches herein particularly of the Church of England By whom opposed and on what Grounds Signification of the Word Difference between reputare and imputare Imputation of two kinds 1. Of what was ours antecedently unto that Imputation whether good or evil Instances in both kinds Nature of this Imputation The thing imputed by it imputed for what it is and nothing else 2. Of what is not ours antecedently unto that Imputation but is made so by it General nature of this Imputation Not judging of others to have done what they have not done Several distinct Grounds and Reasons of this Imputation 1. Ex Justitia 1. Propter Relationem foederalem 2. Propter Relationem Naturalem 2. Ex voluntaria sponsione Instances Philem. 17. Gen. 43.9 Voluntary sponsion the Ground of the Imputation of Sin to Christ. 3. Ex injuria 1 King 1.21 4. Ex mera Gratia Rom. 4. Difference between the Imputation of any Works of ours and of the Righteousness of God Imputation of Inherent Righteousness is Ex Justitia Inconsistency of it with that which is Ex mera Gratia Rom. 11.6 Agreement of both kinds of Imputation The true nature of the Imputation of Righteousness unto Justification explained Imputation of the Righteousness of Christ. The thing it self imputed not the effect of it proved against the Socinians Pag. 226. CHAP. VIII Imputation of Sin unto Christ. Testimonies of the Antients unto that purpose Christ and the Church one Mystical Person Mistakes about that State and Relation Grounds and Reasons of the Vnion that is the foundation of this Imputation Christ the Surety of the New Covenant in what sense unto what ends Heb. 7.22 opened Mistakes about the Causes and Ends of the Death of Christ. The New Covenant in what sense alone procured and purchased thereby Inquiry whether the Guilt of our sins was imputed unto Christ. The meaning of the words Guilt and Guilty The Distinction of Reatus culpae and Reatus paenae examined Act of God in the Imputation of the Guilt of our Sins unto Christ. Objections against it answered The Truth confirmed Pag. 246. CHAP. IX Principal Controversies about Justification 1. Concerning the nature of Justification stated 2. Of the Formal Cause of it 3. Of the Way whereby we are made partakers of the Benefits of the Mediation of Christ. What intended by the Formal Cause of Justification declared The Righteousness on the account whereof Believers are justified before God alone inquired after under those Terms This the Righteousness of Christ imputed unto them Occasions of Exceptions and Objections against this Doctrine General Objections examined Imputation of the Righteousness of Christ consistent with the Free Pardon of Sin with the necessity of Evangelical Repentance Method of Gods Grace in our Justification Necessity of Faith unto Justification on supposition of the Imputation of the Righteousness of Christ. Grounds of that Necessity Other Objections arising mostly from mistakes of the Truth asserted discussed and answered Pag. 289. CHAP. X. Arguments for Justification by the Imputation of the Righteousness of Christ. Our own Personal Righteousness not that on the account whereof we are justified in the sight of God Disclaimed in the Scripture as to any such end The truth and reality of it granted Manifold Imperfections accompanying it rendering it unmeet to be a Righteousness unto the Justification of Life Pag. 315. CHAP. XI Nature of the Obedience or Righteousness required unto Justification Original and Causes of the Law of Creation The Substance and End of that Law The Immutability or unchangeableness of it considered absolutely and as it was the Instrument of the Covenant between God and Man Arguments to prove it unchangeable and its Obligation unto the Righteousness first required perpetually in force Therefore not abrogated not dispensed withal not derogated from but accomplished This alone by Christ and the Imputation of his Righteousness unto us Pag. 340. CHAP. XII Imputation of the Obedience of Christ no less necessary then that of his suffering on the same Ground Objections against it 1. That it is impossible Management hereof by Socinus Ground of this Objection That the Lord Christ was for himself obliged unto all the Obedience he yielded unto God and performed it for himself answered The Obedience inquired after the Obedience of the Person of Christ the Son of God In his whole Person Christ was not under the Law He designed the Obedience he performed for us not for himself This Actual Obedience not necessary as a qualification of his Person unto the discharge of his Office The Foundation of this Obedience in his being made Man and of the Posterity of Abraham not for himself but for us Right of the Humane Nature unto Glory by virtue of Vnion Obedience necessary unto the Humane Nature as Christ in it was made under the Law This Obediencs properly for us Instances of that nature among Men. Christ obeyed as a publick Person and so not for himself Humane Nature of Christ subject unto the Law as an Eternal Rule of dependance on God and subjection to him not as prescribed unto us whilest we are in this World in order unto our future Blessedness or Reward Second Objection that it is useless answered He that is pardoned all his sins is not thereon esteemed to have done all that is required of him Not to be unrighteous Negatively not the same with being righteous Positively The Law obligeth both unto punishment and obedience how and in what sense Pardon of Sin gives no title to Eternal Life The Righteousness of Christ who is one imputed unto many Arguments proving the Imputation of the Obedience of Christ unto the Justification of Life Pag. 361. CHAP. XIII The Difference between the two Covenants stated Arguments from thence Pag. 396. CHAP. XIV All Works whatever expresly excluded from any interst in our Justification before God What intended by the Works of the Law Not those of the Ceremonial Law only Not perfect Works only as required by the Law of our Creation Not the outward Works of the Law performed without a principle of Faith Not Works of the Jewish Law Not Works with a conceit of Merit Not Works only wrought before believing in the strength of our own wills Works excluded absolutely from our Justification without respect unto a Distinction of a First and Second Justification The true sense of the Law in the Apostolical Assertion that none are justified by the Works thereof What the Jews understood by the Law Distribution of the Law under the Old Testament The whole Law a perfect
sympathy in the same body seeing that being the Word of God he would take the form of a Servant and be joyned unto the common habitation of us all in the same nature took the sorrows or labours of the suffering members on him and made all their Infirmities his own and according to the Laws of humanity in the same body bare our sorrow and labour for us And the Lamb of God did not only these things for us but he underwent torments and was punished for us that which he was no ways exposed unto for himself but we were so by the multitude of our sins and thereby he became the cause of the pardon of our sins namely because he underwent Death Stripes Reproaches translating the thing which we had deserved unto himself and was made a Curse for us taking unto himself the Curse that was due to us For what was he but a substitute for us a price of Redemption for our Souls In our person therefore the Oracle speaks whilst freely uniting himself unto us and us unto himself and making our sins or passions his own I have said Lord be merciful unto me heal my Soul for I have sinned against thee That our sins were transferred unto Christ and made his that thereon he underwent the punishment that was due unto us for them and that the Ground hereof whereinto its Equity is resolved is the Vnion between him and us is fully declared in this Discourse So saith the Learned and Pathetical Author of the Homilies on Math. 5. in the works of Chrysostom Hom. 54. which is the last of them In carne sua omnem carnem suscepit crucifixus omnem carnem crucifixit in se. He speaks of the Church So they speak often others of them that he bare us that he took us with him on the Cross that we were all crucified in him as Prospher He is not saved by the Cross of Christ who is not crucified in Christ. Resp. ad cap. Gal. cap. 9. This then I say is the Foundation of the Imputation of the sins of the Church unto Christ namely that he and it are one Person the Grounds whereof we must enquire into But hereon sundry Discourses do ensue and various Enquiries are made What a Person is in what sense and how many senses that word may be used what is the true notion of it what is a natural Person what a legal civil or political Person in the Explication whereof some have fallen into mistakes And if we should enter into this Field we need not fear matter enough of debate and altercation But I must needs say that these things belong not unto our present occasion nor is the Union of Christ and the Church illustrated but obscured by them For Christ and Believers are neither one natural Person nor a legal or political Person nor any such Person as the Laws Customs or Usages of men do know or allow of They are one mystical Person whereof although there may be some imperfect Resemblances found in natural or political Unions yet the Union from whence that Denomination is taken between him and us is of that nature and ariseth from such Reasons and Causes as no Personal Vnion among men or the Vnion of many persons hath any concernment in And therefore as to the Representation of it unto our weak understandings unable to comprehend the depth of Heavenly mysteries it is compared unto Vnions of divers kinds and natures So is it represented by that of Man and Wife not unto those mutual affections which give them only a moral Vnion but from the extraction of the first Woman from the flesh and bone of the first man and the Institution of God for the Individual Society of Life thereon This the Apostle at large declares Ephes. 5.25 26 27 28 29 30 31 32. Whence he concludes that from the Union thus represented we are members of his Body of his flesh and of his bone ver 30. or have such a Relation unto him as Eve had to Adam when she was made of his flesh and bone and so was one flesh with him So also it is compared unto the Union of the Head and Members of the same natural Body 1 Cor. 12.12 and unto a political Vnion also between a Ruling or political Head and its political Members but never exclusively unto the Union of a natural Head and its Members comprized in the same Expression Ephes. 4.15 Col. 2.19 And so also unto sundry things in nature as a Vine and its Branches Joh. 15.1 2 3. And it is declared by the Relation that was between Adam and his posterity by Gods Institution and the Law of Creation Rom. 5.12 c. And the Holy Ghost by representing the Union that is between Christ and Believers by such a variety of Resemblances in things agreeing only in the common or general notion of Vnion on various Grounds doth sufficiently manifest that it is not of nor can be reduced unto any one kind of them And this will yet be made more evident by the consideration of the Causes of it and the Grounds whereinto it is resolved But whereas it would require much time and diligence to handle them at large which the mention of them here being occasional will not admit I shall only briefly refer unto the Heads of them 1. The first spring or cause of this Vnion and of all the other causes of it lieth in that eternal compact that was between the Father and the Son concerning the Recovery and Salvation of fallen mankind Herein among other things as the effects thereof the Assumption of our nature the foundation of this Union was designed The nature and terms of this Compact Counsel and Agreement I have declared elsewhere and therefore must not here again insist upon it But the Relation between Christ and the Church proceeding from hence and so being an effect of infinite Wisdom in the Counsel of the Father and Son to be made effectual by the Holy Spirit must be distinguished from all other Vnions or Relations whatever 2. The Lord Christ as unto the nature which he was to assume was hereon predestinated unto Grace and Glory He was 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 fore-ordained predestinated before the foundation of the World 1 Pet. 1.20 That is he was so as unto his Office so unto all the Grace and Glory required thereunto and consequent thereon All the Grace and Glory of the Humane Nature of Christ was an effect of free Divine preordination God chose it from all Eternity unto a participation of all which it received in time Neither can any other cause of the Glorious Exaltation of that portion of our nature be assigned 3. This Grace and Glory whereunto he was preordained was twofold 1 That which was peculiar unto himself 2 That which was to be Communicated by and through him unto the Church Of the first sort was the 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the Grace of Personal Vnion that single effect of Divine Wisdom whereof
or that we may be interessed in it that it may be made ours which is all we contend for And this is our actual coalescency into one mystical person with him by Faith Hereon doth the necessity of Faith originally depend And if we shall add hereunto the necessity of it likewise unto that especial Glory of God which he designs to exalt in our Justification by Christ as also unto all the ends of our Obedience unto God and the Renovation of our Natures into his Image its station is sufficiently secured against all Objections Our actual Interest in the satisfaction of Christ depends on our actual Insertion into his mystical Body by Faith according to the Appointment of God 4 thly It is yet objected That if the Righteousness of Christ be made ours we may be said to be Saviours of the World as he was or to save others as he did For he was so and did so by his Righteousness and no otherwise This Objection also is of the same nature with those foregoing a meer Sophistical Cavil For 1. The Righteousness of Christ is not transfused into us so as to be made inherently and subjectively ours as it was in him and which is necessarily required unto that effect of saving others thereby Whatever we may do or be said to do with respect unto others by virtue of any power or quality inherent in our selves we can be said to do nothing unto others or for them by virtue of that which is imputed unto us only for our own benefit That any Righteousness of ours should benefit another it is absolutely necessary that it should be wrought by our selves 2. If the Righteousness of Christ could be transfused into us and be made inherently ours yet could we not be nor be said to be the Saviours of others thereby For our nature in our individual persons is not subjectum capax or capable to receive and retain a Righteousness useful and effectual unto that end This capacity was given unto it in Christ by virtue of the Hypostatical Vnion and no otherwise The Righteousness of Christ himself as performed in the Humane Nature would not have been sufficient for the Justification and Salvation of the Church had it not been the Righteousness of his Person who is both God and Man for God redeemed his Church with his own Blood 3. This Imputation of the Righteousness of Christ unto us as unto its ends and use hath its measure from the Will of God and his purpose in that Imputation And this is that it should be the Righteousness of them unto whom it is imputed and nothing else 4. We do not say that the Righteousness of Christ as made absolutely for the whole Church is imputed unto every Believer But his satisfaction for every one of them in particular according unto the Will of God is imputed unto them not with respect unto its general ends but according unto every ones particular Interest Every Believer hath his own Homer of this Bread of Life and all are justified by the same Righteousness The Apostle declares as we shall prove afterwards that as Adams actual sin is imputed unto us unto condemnation so is the Obedience of Christ imputed unto us to the Justification of life But Adams sin is not so imputed unto any person as that he should then and thereby be the cause of sin and condemnation unto all other persons in the World but only that he himself should become Guilty before God thereon And so is it on the other side And as we are made Guilty by Adams actual sin which is not inherent in us but only imputed unto us so are we made Righteous by the Righteousness of Christ which is not inherent in us but only imputed unto us And imputed unto us it is because himself was Righteous with it not for himself but for us It is yet said That if we insist on personal Imputation unto every Believer of what Christ did or if any Believer be personally Righteous in the very individual Acts of Christs Righteousness many Absurdities will follow But it was observed before that when any design to oppose an Opinion from the absurdities which they suppose would follow upon it they are much enclined so to state it as that at least they may seem so to do And this oftimes the most worthy and candid Persons are not free from in the heat of Disputation So I fear it is here fallen out For as unto personal Imputation I do not well understand it All Imputation is unto a person and is the Act of a person be it of what and what sort it will but from neither of them can be denominated a Personal Imputation And if an Imputation be allowed that is not unto the persons of men namely in this case unto all Believers the nature of it hath not yet been declared as I know of That any have so expressed the Imputation pleaded for That every Believer should be personally Righteous in the very individual Acts of Christs Righteousness I know not I have neither read nor heard any of them who have so expressed their mind It may be some have done so but I shall not undertake the defence of what they have done For it seems not only to suppose that Christ did every individual Act which in any instance is required of us but also that those Acts are made our own inherently both which are false and impossible That which indeed is pleaded for in this Imputation is only this That what the Lord Christ did and suffered as the Mediator and Surety of the Covenant in answer unto the Law for them and in their stead is imputed unto every one of them unto the Justification of Life And sufficient this is unto that end without any such supposals 1 From the Dignity of the Person who yielded his Obedience which rendered it both satisfactory and meritorious and imputable unto many 2 From the Nature of the Obedience it self which was a perfect compliance with a fulfilling of and satisfaction unto the whole Law in all its demands This on the supposition of that Act of Gods Soveraign Authority whereby a Representative of the whole Church was introduced to answer the Law is the Ground of his Righteousness being made theirs and being every way sufficient unto their Justification 3 From the constitution of God that what was done and suffered by Christ as a publick person and our surety should be reckoned unto us as if done by our selves So the sin of Adam whilst he was a publick Person and represented his whole Posterity is imputed unto us all as if we had committed that actual sin This Bellarmin himself frequently acknowledgeth Peccavimus in primo homine quando ille peccavit illa ejus praevaricatio nostra etiam praevaricatio fuit Non enim vere per Adami inobedientiam constitueremur peccatores nisi inobedientia illius nostra etiam inobedientia esset De Amiss Grat. Stat. Peccat lib.
became him to fulfil all Righteousness Whereas therefore he was neither made Man nor of the Posterity of Abraham for himself but for the Church namely to become thereby the Surety of the Covenant and Representative of the whole his obedience as a Man unto the Law in general and as a Son of Abraham unto the Law of Moses was for us and not for himself so designed so performed and without a respect unto the Church was of no use unto himself He was born to us and given to us lived for us and died for us obeyed for us and suffered for us that by the obedience of one many might be made Righteous This was the Grace of our Lord Jesus Christ and this is the Faith of the Catholick Church And what he did for us is imputed unto us This is included in the very notion of his doing it for us which cannot be spoken in any sense unless that which he so did be imputed unto us And I think Men ought to be wary that they do not by distinctions and studied evasions for the defence of their own private opinions shake the Foundations of Christian Religion And I am sure it will be easier for them as it is in the Proverb To wrest the Club out of the hand of Hercules then to dispossess the minds of true Believers of this perswasion That what the Lord Christ did in Obedience unto God according unto the Law he designed in his Love and Grace to do it for them He needed no Obedience for himself he came not into a capacity of yielding Obedience for himself but for us and therefore for us it was that he fulfilled the Law in Obedience unto God according unto the terms of it The Obligation that was on him unto Obedience was originally no less for us no less needful unto us no more for himself no more necessary unto him then the obligation that was on him as the Surety of the Covenant to suffer the penalty of the Law was either the one or the other 3. Setting aside the consideration of the Grace and Love of Christ and the compact between the Father and the Son as unto his undertaking for us which undeniably proves all that he did in the pursuit of them to be done for us and not for himself I say setting aside the consideration of these things and the Humane Nature of Christ by virtue of its union with the Person of the Son of God had a right unto and might have immediately been admitted into the highest Glory whereof it was capable without any antecedent Obedience unto the Law And this is apparent from hence In that from the first instant of that Vnion the whole Person of Christ with our Nature existing therein was the object of all Divine worship from Angels and Men wherein consists the highest Exaltation of that Nature It is true there was a peculiar Glory that he was actually to be made Partaker of with respect unto his antecedent Obedience and Suffering Phil. 2.8 9. The Actual Possession of this Glory was in the Ordination of God to be consequential unto his obeying and suffering not for himself but for us But as unto the right and capacity of the Humane Nature in it self all the Glory whereof it was capable was due unto it from the instant of its union For it was therein exalted above the condition that any Creature is capable of by meer Creation And it is but a Socinian fiction that the first Foundation of the Divine Glory of Christ was laid in his Obedience which was only the way of his Actual Possession of that part of his Glory which consists in his Mediatory Power and Authority over all The Real Foundation of the whole was laid in the Vnion of his Person whence he prays that the Father would glorifie him as unto manifestation with that Glory which he had with him before the World was I will grant that the Lord Christ was Viator whilest he was in this World and not absolutely Possessor yet I say withal he was so not that any such condition was necessary unto him for himself but he took it upon him by especial Dispensation for us And therefore the Obedience he performed in that condition was for us and not for himself 4. It is granted therefore that the Humane Nature of Christ was made 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 as the Apostle affirms That which was made of a Woman was made under the Law Hereby Obedience became necessary unto him as he was and whilest he was Viator But this being by especial Dispensation intimated in the expression of it He was made under the Law namely as he was made of a Woman by especial Dispensation and Condescension expressed Phil. 2.6 7 8. The Obedience he yielded thereon was for us and not for himself And this is evident from hence For he was so made under the Law as that not only he owed Obedience unto the Precepts of it but he was made obnoxious unto its Curse But I suppose it will not be said that he was so for himself and therefore not for us We owed Obedience unto the Law and were obnoxious unto the Curse of it or 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Obedience was required of us and was as necessary unto us if we would enter into life as the answering of the Curse for us was if we would escape Death eternal Christ as our Surety is made under the Law for us whereby he becomes liable and obliged unto the Obedience which the Law required and unto the penalty that it threatned Who shall now dare to say that he underwent the Penalty of the Law for us indeed but he yielded Obedience unto it for himself only The whole Harmony of the Work of his Mediation would be disordered by such a supposition Judah the Son of Jacob undertook to be a Bondman instead of Benjamine his Brother that he might go free Gen. 44.33 There is no doubt but Joseph might have accepted of the stipulation Had he done so the service and bondage he undertook had been necessary unto Judah and righteous for him to bear howbeit he had undergone it and performed his duty in it not for himself but for his Brother Benjamine and unto Benjamine it would have been imputed in his liberty So when the Apostle Paul wrote those words unto Philemon concerning Onesimus 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Vers. 18. If he hath wronged thee dealt unrighteously or injuriously with thee or oweth thee ought wherein thou hast suffered loss by him put it on my account or impute it all unto me I will repay it or answer for it all He supposeth that Philemon might have a double action against Onesimus the one injuriarum and the other damni or debiti of wrong and injury and of loss or debt which are distinct actions in the Law If he hath wronged thee or oweth the ought Hereon he proposeth himself and obligeth himself by his express Obligation 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉
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
the Son of God was never absolutely made 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 under the Law nor could be formally obliged thereby He was indeed as the Apostle witnesseth made so in his Humane Nature wherein he performed this Obedience made of a Woman made under the Law Gal. 4.4 He was so far forth made under the Law as he was made of a Woman For in his Person he abode Lord of the Sabbath Mark 2.28 And therefore of the whole Law But the Obedience it self was the Obedience of that Person who never was nor ever could absolutely be made under the Law in his whole Person For the Divine Nature cannot be subjected unto an outward work of its own such as the Law is nor can it have an Authoritative commanding power over it as it must have if it were made 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 under the Law Thus the Apostle argues That Levi paid Tithes in Abraham because he was then in his Loyns when Abraham himself paid Tithes unto Melchisedec Heb. 7. And thence he proves That he was inferior unto the Lord Christ of whom Melchisedec was a Type But may it not thereon be replied that then no less the Lord Christ was in the Loyns of Abraham then Levi For verily as the same Apostle speaks he took on him the Seed of Abraham It is true therefore that he was so in respect of his Humane Nature but as he was typed and represented by Melchisedec in his whole Person without Father without Mother without Genealogy without beginning of Days or End of Life So he was not absolutely in Abrahams Loyns and was exempted from being tithed in him Wherefore the Obedience whereof we treat being not the Obedience of the Humane Nature abstractedly however performed in and by the Humane Nature but the Obedience of the Person of the Son of God however the Humane Nature was subject to the Law in what Sense and unto what Ends shall be declared afterwards it was not for himself nor could be for himself because his whole Person was not obliged thereunto It is therefore a fond thing to compare the Obedience of Christ with that of any other Man whose whole person is under the Law For although that may not be for himself and others which yet we shall shew that in some cases it may yet this may yea must be for others and not for himself This then we must strictly hold unto If the Obedience that Christ yielded unto the Law were for himself whereas it was the Act of his Person his whole Person and the Divine Nature therein were made under the Law which cannot be For although it is acknowledged that in the Ordination of God his Exinanition was to precede his Glorious Majestical Exaltation as the Scripture witnesseth Phil. 2.9 Luk. 24.26 Rom. 14.9 yet absolutely his Glory was an immediate consequent of the Hypostatical Vnion Heb. 1.6 Matth. 2.11 Socinus I confess evades the force of this Argument by denying the Divine Person of Christ. But in this Disputation I take that for granted as having proved it elswhere beyond what any of his followers are able to contradict And if we may not build on Truths by him denied we shall scarce have any one principle of Evangelical Truth left us to prove any thing from However I intend them only at present who concur with him in the matter under debate but renounce his opinion concerning the Person of Christ. 2. As our Lord Jesus Christ owed not in his own Person this Obedience for himself by vertue of any Authority or Power that the Law had over him so he designed and intended it not for himself but for us This added unto the former consideration gives full evidence unto the Truth pleaded for For if he was not obliged unto it for himself his Person that yielded it not being under the Law and if he intended it not for himself then it must be for us or be useless It was in our Humane Nature that he performed all this Obedience Now the susception of our Nature was a voluntary Act of his own with reference unto some end and purpose and that which was the end of the Assumption of our Nature was in like manner the End of all that he did therein Now it was for us and not for himself that he assumed our nature nor was any thing added unto him thereby Wherefore in the issue of his Work he proposeth this only unto himself That he may be glorified with that Glory which he had with the Father before the World was by the removal of that veil which was put upon it in his Exinanition But that it was for us That he assumed our nature is the foundation of Christian Religion as it is asserted by the Apostle Heb. 2.14 Phil. 2.5 6 7 8. Some of the Antient Schoolmen disputed That the Son of God should have been incarnate although Man had not sinned and fallen The same opinion was fiercely pursued by Osiander as I have elswhere declared but none of them once imagined that he should have been so made Man as to be made under the Law and be obliged thereby unto that Obedience which now he hath performed But they judged that immediately he was to have been a Glorious Head unto the whole Creation For it is a common notion and presumption of all Christians but only such as will sacrifice such notions unto their own private conceptions That the Obedience which Christ yielded unto the Law on the Earth in the state and condition wherein he yielded it was not for himself but for the Church which was obliged unto perfect Obedience but was not able to accomplish it That this was his sole End and Design in it is a Fundamental Article if I mistake not of the Creed of most Christians in the World and to deny it doth consequentially overthrow all the Grace and Love both of the Father and Son in his Mediation It is said That this Obedience was necessary as a Qualification of his Person that he might be meet to be a Mediator for us and therefore was for himself It belongs unto the necessary constitution of his Person with respect unto his Mediatory Work But this I positively deny The Lord Christ was every way meet for the whole Work of Mediation by the ineffable union of the Humane Nature with the Divine which exalted it in Dignity Honor and Worth above any thing or all things that insued thereon For hereby he became in his whole Person the object of all Divine Worship and Honor for when he brings the first begotten into the World he saith And let all the Angels of God worship him Again That which is an effect of the Person of the Mediator as constituted such is not a qualification necessary unto its constitution that is what he did as Mediator did not concur to the making of him meet so to be But of this Nature was all the Obedience which he yielded unto the Law for as such It
〈◊〉 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
Righteousness of Christ is imputed unto us or in the sight of God we can never be Justified Nor are the cavilling Objections of the Socinians and those that follow them of any force against the Truth herein They tell us that the Righteousness of Christ can be imputed but unto one if unto any For who can suppose that the same Righteousness of One should become the Righteousness of many even of all that believe Besides he performed not all the Duties that are required of us in all our Relations he being never placed in them These things I say are both foolish and impious destructive unto the whole Gospel For all things here depend on the Ordination of God It is his Ordinance that as through the offence of One many are dead so his Grace and the Gift of Grace through one man Christ Jesus hath abounded unto many and as by the Offence of one Judgment came upon all men unto Condemnation so by the Righteousness of One the free Gift came upon all unto the Righteousness of life and by the Obedience of One many are made Righteous as the Apostle argues Rom. 5. For God sent his own Son in the likeness of sinful flesh and for sin that the Righteousness of the Law might be fulfilled in us Rom. 8.3 4. For he was the End of the Law the whole End of it for Righteousness unto them that do believe Chap. 10.4 This is the Appointment of the Wisdom Righteousness and Grace of God that the whole Righteousness and Obedience of Christ should be accepted as our compleat Righteousness before him imputed unto us by his Grace and applied unto us or made ours through believing and consequently unto all that believe And if the actual Sin of Adam be imputed unto us all who derive our Nature from him unto Condemnation though he sinned not in our Circumstances and Relations is it strange that the actual Obedience of Christ should be imputed unto them who derive a Spiritual Nature from him unto the Justification of life Besides both the Satisfaction and Obedience of Christ as relating unto his person were in some sense infinite that is of an infinite Value and so cannot be considered in Parts as though one Part of it were imputed unto one and another unto another but the whole is imputed unto every one that doth believe And if the Israelites could say that David was worth ten thousand of them 2 Sam. 21.3 we may well allow the Lord Christ and so what he did and suffered to be more than us all and all that we can do and suffer There are also sundry other mistakes that concur unto that part of the Charge against the Imputation of the Righteousness of Christ unto us which we have now considered I say of his Righteousness for the Apostle in this case useth those two words 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 and 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Righteousness and Obedience as 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 of the same signification Rom. 5.18 19. such are those that Remission of Sin and Justification are the same or that Justification consisteth only in the Remission of Sin that Faith it self as our Act and Duty being it is the Condition of the Covenant is imputed unto us for Righteousness or that we have a personal inherent Righteousness of our own that one way or other is our Righteousness before God unto Justification either a Condition it is or a Disposition unto it or hath a congruity in deserving the Grace of Justification or a down-right merit of Condignity thereof For all these are but various expressions of the same thing according unto the Variety of the Conceptions of the Minds of men about it But they have been all considered and removed in our precedent Discourses To close this Argument and our Vindication of it and therewithal to obviate an Objection I do acknowledg that our Blessedness and life eternal is in the Scripture oftimes ascribed unto the death of Christ But it is so 1. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 as the principal Cause of the whole and as that without which no imputation of Obedience could have justified us for the Penalty of the Law was indispensibly to be undergone 2. It is so 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 not exclusively unto all Obedience whereof mention is made in other Places but as that whereunto it is inseparably conjoyned Christus in vita passivam habuit actionem in morte passionem activam sustinuit dum salutem operaretur in medio terrae Bernard And so it is also ascribed unto his Resurrection 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 with respect unto Evidence and Manifestation But the Death of Christ exclusively as unto his Obedience is no where asserted as the Cause of eternal life comprizing that exceeding Weight of Glory wherewith it is accompanied Hitherto we have treated of and Vindicated the Imputation of the Active Obedience of Christ unto us as the Truth of it was deduced from the preceding Argument about the Obligation of the Law of Creation I shall now briefly confirm it with other Reasons and Testimonies 1. That which Christ the Mediator and Surety of the Covenant did do in Obedience unto God in the discharge and Performance of his Office that he did for us and that is imputed unto us This hath been proved already and it hath too great an Evidence of Truth to be denied He was born to us given to us Isa. 9.6 For what the Law could not do in that it was weak through the flesh God sending his own Son in the likeness of sinful flesh and for sin condemned sin in the flesh that the Righteousness of the Law might be fulfilled in us Rom. 8.3 4. Whatever is spoken of the Grace Love and Purpose of God in sending or giving his Son or of the Love Grace and Condescention of the Son in coming and undertaking of the Work of Redemption designed unto him or of the Office it self of a Mediator or Surety gives Testimony unto this Assertion Yea it is the Fundamental Principle of the Gospel and of the Faith of all that truly believe As for those by whom the Divine Person and Satisfaction of Christ are denied whereby they evert the whole Work of his Mediation we do not at present consider them Wherefore what he so did is to be enquired into And 1. The Lord Christ our Mediator and Surety was in his Humane Nature made 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 under the Law Gal. 4.1 That he was not so for himself by the necessity of his Condition we have proved before It was therefore for us But as made under the Law he yielded Obedience unto it this therefore was for us and is imputed unto us The exception of the Socinians that it is the Judicial Law only that is intended is too frivolous to be insisted on For he was made under that Law whose Curse we are delivered from And if we are delivered only from the Curse of the Law of Moses wherein they contend that there
Righteous and the Sons of God then may Christ by the imputation of our unrighteousness be said to be a sinner and a child of the Devil Ans. 1 That which the Scripture affirms concerning the imputation of our sins unto Christ is that he was made sin for us This the Greek Expositors Chrysostome Theophylact and Oecumenius with many others take for a sinner But all affirm that denomination to be taken from imputation only he had sin imputed unto him and underwent the punishment due unto it as we have Righteousness imputed unto us and enjoy the benefit of it 2 The imputation of sin unto Christ did not carry along with it any thing of the pollution or filth of sin to be communicated unto him by transfusion a thing impossible so that no denomination can thence arise which should include in it any respect unto them A thought hereof is impious and dishonourable unto the Son of God But his being made sin through the imputation of the guilt of sin is his honour and glory 3 The imputation of the sin of Fornicators Idolaters Adulterers c. such as the Corinthians were before their Conversion unto Christ doth not on any ground bring him under a denomination from those sins For they were so in themselves actively inherently subjectively and thence were so called But that he who knew no sin voluntarily taking on him to answer for the guilt of those sins which in him was an act of Righteousness and the highest Obedience unto God should be said to be an Idolater c. is a fond imagination The denomination of a sinner from sin inherent actually committed defiling the Soul is a reproach and significative of the utmost unworthiness But even the denomination of a sinner by the imputation of sin without the least personal guilt or defilement being undergone by him unto whom it is imputed in an act of the highest Obedience and tending unto the greatest glory of God is highly honourable and glorious But 4 The imputation of sin unto Christ was antecedent unto any real union between him and sinners whereon he took their sin on him as he would and for what ends he would But the imputation of his Righteousness unto Believers is consequential in order of nature unto their union with him whereby it becomes theirs in a peculiar manner so as that there is not a parity of reason that he should be esteemed a sinner as that they should be accounted Righteous And 5 we acquiesce in this that on the imputation of sin unto Christ it is said that God made him to be sin for us which he could not be but thereby and he was so by an act transient in its effects for a time only that time wherein he underwent the punishment due unto it But on the imputation of his Righteousness unto us we are made the Righteousness of God with an everlasting Righteousness that abides ours always 6 To be a child of the Devil by sin is to do the works of the Devil Joh. 8.44 But the Lord Christ in taking our sins upon him when imputed unto him did the work of God in the highest act of holy Obedience evidencing himself to be the Son of God thereby and destroying the work of the Devil So foolish and impious is it to conceive that any absolute change of state or relation in him did ensue thereon That by the Righteousness of God in this place our own Faith and Obedience according to the Gospel as some would have it are intended is so alien from the scope of the place and sense of the words as that I shall not particularly examine it The Righteousness of God is revealed to Faith and received by Faith and is not therefore Faith it self And the force of the Antithesis is quite perverted by this conceit For where is it in this that he was made sin by the imputation of our sin unto him and we are made Righteousness by the imputation of our own Faith and Obedience unto our selves But as Christ had no concern in sin but as God made him sin it was never in him inherently so have we no interest in this Righteousness it is not in us inherently but only is imputed unto us Besides the act of God in making us righteous is his justifying of us But this is not by the infusion of the habit of Faith and Obedience as we have proved And what act of God is intended by them who affirm That the Righteousness of God which we are made is our own Righteousness I know not The constitution of the Gospel Law it cannot be for that makes no Man righteous And the Persons of Believers are the object of this act of God and that as they are considered in Christ. Gal. 2.16 The Epistle of the same Apostle unto the Galatians is wholly designed unto the vindication of the Doctrine of Justification by Christ without the Works of the Law with the use and means of its improvement The sum of his whole design is laid down in the repetition of his words unto the Apostle Peter on the occasion of his failure there related Chap. 2.86 Knowing that a Man is not justified by the Works of the Law but by the Faith of Jesus Christ even we have believed on Jesus Christ that we might be justified by the Faith of Christ and not by the Works of the Law for by the Works of the Law shall no flesh be justified That which he doth here assert was such a known such a fundamental principle of Truth among all Believers that their conviction and knowledge of it was the ground and occasion of their transition and passing over from Judaism unto the Gospel and Faith in Jesus Christ thereby And in the words the Apostle determines that great inquiry how or by what means a Man is or may be justified before God The subject spoken of is expressed indefinitely A Man that is any Man a Jew or a Gentile a Believer or an Vnbeliever The Apostle that spake and they to whom he spake the Galatians to whom he wrote who also for some time had believed and made Profession of the Gospel The answer given unto the question is both Negative and Positive both asserted with the highest assurance and as the common faith of all Christians but only those who had been carried aside from it by Seducers He asserts that this is not this cannot be by the Works of the Law What is intended by the Law in these disputations of the Apostle hath been before declared and evinced The Law of Moses is sometimes signally intended not absolutely but as it was the present instance of Mens cleaving unto the Law of Righteousness and not submitting themselves thereon unto the Righteousness of God But that the consideration of the Moral Law and the duties of it is in this Argument any where excepted by him is a weak imagination yea it would except the Ceremonial Law it self for the observation of it whilest