co quod Christus peccatum pro nobis factus est Hoc autem ipsum est Christi Obedientia Ergo Justitia Dei non est Christi Obedientia Wotton Besides That we might be made the Righteousness of God in him is expressed by the Apostle as the End or Effect of his being made Sin for us He was made Sin for us not Formaliter but Effective in suffering for our Sins His Sufferings was his Obedience and that his Righteousness By the Righteousness of God therefore we must not understand the Righteousness of Christ because that which is the End or Effect of a Thing cannot be the very same Thing but another differing from it There is yet that Text more which will receive the like easie Interpretation on that Supposition Christ is the End of the Law for Righteousness to him that believeth the Believer being righteous In and With and not only meritory By his Righteousness according to Rom. 10.4 But the Supposition really is too gross the Notion too hard to be digested as well as dangerous in regard to the Antinomian Consequences of it If in a Law-sence we are righteous and have fulfilled the Law in Christ then in a Law-sence God sees no Sin in us we need no Pardon God cannot in Justice punish for any thing we do with the Lerna of the like Doctrines which follow upon it If in a Law-sence Christ's Righteousness is ours and we have fulfilled the Law in him then are we in a Law-sence justified by Works when by the Works of the Law the Scripture says no Flesh living shall be justified It the Notion of Faith being imputed for Righteousness which is Scripture must be so framed as by Faith we must understand its Object Christ's Righteousness so imputed but first received by Faith or made ours by Faith as the Instrument of that Reception How then shall those many Fathers and Holy Men before Luther who never had any such Notion in their Minds Nay how shall the Patriarchs and all the Holy People from Adam to Christ have been justified as we which is to be Righteous with this Righteousness when they never had the Instrument to receive it An Instrument is that the Efficient works by And when there is not the working Cause how can there be the Effect It is not credible to me that ever any one before Christ or any of his Disciples before his Death did or could believe themselves Righteous by the Satisfaction and Obedience of the Messiah in this sence that his Righteousness should or could be their Formal Righteousness when As St. John tells us He that doth Righteousness is righteous so is this Righteousness done the Formal Righteousness and Christ's Obedience and Satisfaction the Meritorious Cause and the Account we give of its acceptance in the Sinners Justification A Third Text and parallel Place we have in Rom. 8.3 4. What the Law could not do in that it was weak through the Flesh c. That is I suppose when through the Fall no Man could perform the Condition of the Law of Works God sent his Son as it follows to be a Sacrifice for Sin to procure a Law of Grace That the Righteousness of the Law might be fulfilled in us who walk not after the Flesh but after the Spirit How is that when none can fulfil the Law through the Weakness of the Flesh do we fulfil it Yes It is not said fulfilled in Christ but in Us and it is fulfilled by this Righteousness of God which being on our part all one with the Obedience of Faith God upon Christ's Account imputes that to us for Righteousness or reckons it instead of fulfilling it making it as good to us and rewarding us alike as if we had perfectly performed it It is an Obedience or Righteousness indeed not 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 as I have it before according to the Rigour of the Law but 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 according to the Equity of the Gospel It is not in its own Nature a Righousness falling short of the Law that would justifie us but it does it by Divine Institution and therefore called the Righteousness of God It is an Ordination of Grace through Jesus Christ and therefore is God righteous in what he does But on our part it is called the Righteousness of Faith I do observe therefore how that Religiously Learned Gentleman Sir Charles Wolesley having wrote his Book of Justification after I had wrote and he had read my Sheets on the same Subject hath these Words upon that forementioned Critical Place 2 Cor. 5.21 The meaning is this says he Christ that was without all Sin was ordained of God to be a Sacrifice for Sin that we might thereby be made righteous with the Gospel Righteousness for that is the general meaning every where of the Righteousness of God Sir C. W. p. 64. This I know I delivered as my Judgment in those Sheets and his saying the same after is as much as if he had said I have considered what you say and am convinced that this is the meaning of that Text and that you are right in your Sence of the Righteousness of God It is a walking after the Spirit not after the Flesh though not perfectly up to our Duty And the Law of the Spirit of Life in Christ Jesus after which we walk in our measure does set us free from the Law of Sin and Death I will proceed to some Consequences like to be good or ill as they follow upon a right or mistaken understanding of this Righteousness If by it the Righteousness of Christ imputed be understood By the exercise of Faith in apprehending the same to be made ours so as to bring it before the Tribunal of God's Justice for our Justification thereby according to the Law of Works the very Life of that Faith or Comfort of that Life which consists in trusting resting relying on God's Mercy and Goodness for pardoning all the Failings of our Performances and accepting them even our very Desires and weakest Endeavours through the Merits of Christ unto Life so as by that Faith we have access to the Throne of Grace and are justified according to the Gospel is stopt perverted if not quite contradicted and lost Nay if the End of Christ's Obeying and Satisfying the Law was that his Satisfaction and Obedience should be made ours upon Condition for our Divines here are cautious and do generally take heed to put in that to wit upon Performance of the Terms the Gospel requires of us in order to it and not otherwise then cannot the Merits of Christ be so rationally I think applied thus as I speak to the Performance of the Condition Our Divines indeed do say that Christ hath not only procured this Imputation on Condition but Grace also for the Performance of the Condition some say General Grace for all that will some Special that makes some to will but this Condition must be performed by our Free-Will or Grace so
in God's sight whatsoever they were in their own but that all have sinned and need that Messias they expected to make Reconciliation for their Sins that our Lord Jesus Christ being that true Messias by his Death answering their Legal Sacrifices hath born the Curse of the Law and so redeemed us from it That God's undeserved Goodness here in accepting of Sinners through this meritorious Sacrifice of his to Pardon and Life upon Condition which he gives the Grace also to perform presupposed and by me acknowledg'd it is another Righteousness and not that of the Jews Not that Paul calls his own as a Jew or not a Righteousness of Works Perfect Works but a Righteousness of Faith which makes the Reward only of Grace Of Faith that it may be of Grace a Righteousness of Faith but a true Faith working by Love which is an Internal Righteousness though imperfect and not as the External Works of the Jews was is that Righteousness of God in opposition to the Terms of the Law whereby we are justified and saved The Apostle I observe in one place speaking of Faith calls it the Obedience of Faith the same Word if you compare that Text Rom. 11.30 31. with the Margin signifying both to Believe and Obey And the People believed God and his Servant Moses I will conclude hereupon that Christ's Redemption in the immediate fruit thereof which is the Grant of a General Pardon through his Satisfaction to all the World on Condition being laid as a foundation To be justified by Faith is to be justified by performing that Condition To be justified by Faith Believe me at parting is in St. Paul's Mind to be justified by the Obedience of Faith in opposition to the task of the Law that is in St. Paul's Mind I say opposing the Jew by embracing the Christian Religion and living according to it Reader In p. 14. l. 34. correct the Word its and make it it with a Full Point after Other Errataes you may find at the end of the Book or mend your self OF THE Righteousness of GOD In the Matter of JUSTIFICATION The First PART BEcause upon the right Understanding of what the Apostle means by the Righteousness of God without the Law revealed now in the Gospel which indeed is dark and hardly understood I think by Papist or Protestant in their Disputes and much less by our Brethren in their present Differences does depend the Elucidation of the Great Article of Justification whereof I wrote some Sheets formerly called The Middle Way and more lately six Sheets called Pacification I have thought good yet to write a few more upon some further increase of my own Knowledge about this Subject And under this Title I beseech God for his Light and Truth and for Integrity of Heart and Pardon of my Weakness and Failings for my self and for the removal of Prejudice from and the establishing the Judgment of others who shall read what is written The Search after Truth is indeed hard Work it is digging in a Mine It was so to me in writing on this Point at first and it is still What I dig up is but rude it is the Ore as it comes naturally and that is best to edifie those that would improve it I am one whose Genius is averse from any Notion imposed and receives none without distrust that does not arise first out of my own Mind or that I see something new to cultivate it I do not only bear with others but do like them often better that they differ from me because I know I differ from the most Where the Mine though is Gold as the Scripture is there is no Dust of it but must be saved The least Dust of Gold is Gold and if any other who hath better Words and Parts will be at the pains to sift and order what I have digged I doubt not but they may make Gold of that which I have brought to be but the Dust of Gold When a Book is so Methodized as it does exhaust its Subject there is no coming after it But when there is only some Ore turn'd up something of Notion for others to refine a riper Wit will be encouraged to an Endeavour of bringing that Something to more perfection It is so with my Middle-Way Books I am content to be but the Digger I expect some others should be the Refiners of what I have digged The Trent Doctrine which is the perfect papists I must confess is lead them bâ— St. Austine They say Justification is the making a Man just Ex impio Christianum by Infusion of Grace inherent or Charity Being justified freely by his Grace Augustine being immersed in his Dispute with Pelagius could think of Grace in no Sence but this and by Freely Gratis justified he understood only that Works preparatory did not merit this infusion which the Trent-Doctors also say after him The Efficient Cause quae efficit is the Spirit the Instrumental Cause qua efficitur Baptism the Meritorious Cause propter quam Christ's Death the Formal Cause per quam of Justification is this Grace infused Gratia Habitualis Habitual Righteousness making the Man before ungodly now righteous in God's sight This habitual Righteousness then being infused by Baptism they say does abolish Sin so that there remains in the Baptized after the Opus Operatum nothing that is Peccatum but Fomes Peccati only and upon that Account is perfect so by the Law justifies and the Works proceeding from it meritorious of Salvation This is their Opinion and they fall foul on us for holding Justification by Pardon only or by Christ without inherent Grace as if Good Works were laid aside by us altogether Our Protestants therefore renouncing this Charge do grant an habitual Righteousness or Grace infused as necessary in the justified Person but deny this Righteousness to be that which justifies him they deny Justification to be Regeneration and distinguish these as two things It is not this inherent Righteousness say they that can be opposed between the Wrath of God and our Conscience of Sin to be the Cause Propter quam we are not condemned No there is a Righteousness they add without us that is the Righteousness of Christ performed for us and by our Faith made ours that we rely upon to do this for us Our inherent Grace is inchoate imperfect and cannot standing in Judgment before God This being now partly well on both sides there is a Middle Way appears which we must take between them It is true against the Papists that there is no such Righteousness inherent though infused by the Holy Spirit as does abolish Sin and make us so just that we can oppose it to Gods Wrath so as to render him appeased with the Sinner or that the Conscience can rest on it as that Proper quod he is forgiven or saved It is true likewise against the common Protestant that there is not any Righteousness without us that can be made ours so as we
Scripture speaks Lingua Filiorum hominum as the Jews say Or as the Schools Secundum nostrum concipiendi modum in many Matters incomprehensible To leave Mr. Wotton's Genus Definitionis therefore to himself without farther concern he hath defined Justification by Remission of Sin in opposition to those that define it by the Imputation of Christ's Righteousness and he hath elaborately proved this to be the Sence of the Church of England and Calvin's with many others I do now agree with Mr. Wotton herein in excluding the Imputation of Christ's Righteousness in his Sence intended that is as our Formal Righteousness out of the Definition because there is no such thing as the Imputation thereof In se tho' the Merit of it be imputed to Believers as to the Effects But I do not agree with him in making Remission of Sin to be that he wont let the other be the Form or Formal Reason of our Justification Because I hold with Mr. Bradshaw our Actual Pardon to be the Effect or Benefit of it The Righteousness of God which is not yet throughly understood by Protestant or Papist and I have made the Subject of this Dissertation is indeed that Formal Righteousness we are seeking and I do not think that any Man in his first natural reading Paul's Epistle to the Romans who brought not his Understanding from without to the place did ever apprehend by that Righteousness of God now Revealed when Remission of Sin was a thing never Hid that Pardon only is to be understood I will advise every Judicious Man therefore when any material Point is concerned in a Text to ponder it in the Original several times 'till he come to some Resolution about it in his own Mind because when he hath sucked in the Sence of another his own Judgment is worth nothing Mr. Wotton hath said enough to turn a Man to his Opinion he is so rational a Man but having been myself otherwise inclined as to the Sence of this Righteousness and finding the Scripture calling no Man righteous but upon the Account of doing righteously I cannot comply with Mr. Wotton in his Notion nor with the contrary in such as the hitherto prevailing Dr. Owen in theirs The Ministry of the Gospel is called the Ministration of Righteousness upon the Account of this Righteousness as also the Ministration of the Spirit in regard of the Grace the Spirit brings to perform it which Austine I remember in his Book De Spiritu Littera hath told us It can by no means be called the Ministration Thereof in regard to Remission of Sins There are many the like Arguments I think I could find out against Mr. Wotton's Opinion but that my Discourse is rather to be Demonstrative than Elenctical and therefore I must not omit that place in Daniel where it is prophesied that Christ shall bring in Righteousness that is a Righteousness procured by his Death and Merits and called an Everlasting Righteousness being that by which they that ever were are or shall be so are justified and saved and it is said brought in and at such a time when the Messiah shall be slain as it is said Now Manifested or Revealed by the Gospel which is I said but now the Ministration of it To which purpose it is to be understood and observed farther that Righteousness as well as Reconciliation and the making an End of Sins is one End of our Redemption which I have explained more * That the End of Christ's coming in the World of our Redemption and the Covenant of Grace was that we should be holy and righteous is said ordinarily by Divines according to the Scriptures but the right and plain Understanding or Reason of what they say is not said by them He hath chosen us in Christ that we should be Holy He hath redeemed us from Iniquity that we should be a peculiar People We are his Workmanship created unto Good Works in or through Christ Jesus Well! when God made Man at first and gave him a Law was it not that he should live holy And when Righteousness then was the End of his Creation and the Law thereof how is this said to be the End of his Redemption I answer therefore Righteousness or Holiness as they are one we must know does lie in a Conformity to the Law which God gives us There is nothing less than this the full Performance of a Law given that is Righteousness Upon this Account as soon as Man once fell and broke the Law of his Creation it is impossible he should be righteous any more unless there were a New Law brought in in the Performance whereof he might attain to that again which he had lost Now to this End was it that Christ came and died This was the very main Business I count of his Redemption as to free us from Condemnation by the Old so even the procuring this New Law or another Law with lower Terms which some Men performing they do thereby become righteous and so have Righteousness according to that Law imputed to them for Remission and Life Eternal Here you see what that Righteousness indeed is which Christ is said to bring in and in what Sence he hath brought it in or how such Texts as these before does attribute our Holiness to him It is called an Everlasting Righteousness as the Gospel is called the Everlasting Gospel because it is the Righteousness in opposition to that of the Law or of Works that all Men from the Beginning of the World to the End of it do obtain Everlasting Salvation Mid. Way of Justif p. 43. other-where Daniel 9.24 Titus 2.14 Well! you will say then if the Imputation of Christ's Righteousness be not the Form of our Justification nor Remission of Sins when some Protestants say the one and some the other and some both what then is the Form of it I answer Mr. Wotton hath told us truly in the rest of his Words It is God's imputing to a Man his Faith for Righteousness This is Scripture express and the Righteousness of God I am treating of is otherwhere called the Righteousness of God by Faith and the Righteousness of Faith for that is express Scripture also Justification supposes a Man just Justificationis formam justitia constare certum est God cannot account a Man righteous without a Righteousness The Papists therefore are hot here with Calvin that will have a Man be justified only by Remission of Sins without an inherent Righteousness and the Protestants as hot with the Papists that will have any inherent Grace or Righteousness of ours to be such as answers the Law that it should justifie us for by Righteousness both understand a Conformity to the Law of Works Both therefore are out There is no such inherent Grace as answers the Law nor any Grace from without either Remission of Sins or Christ's Righteousness imputed that is or can be our Formal Righteousness but it is Faith which is Grace and