do his Commands that they may have right to the Tree of Life Mr. M. saith you are gone if you expect it Christ saith Luke 21.36 Watch and Pray always that ye may be accounted worthy to escape all these things that shall come to pass and to stand before the Son of Man Mr. M. tells you he thinks it Inconsistent with Faith to do so 11. They effectually strike at Christ's Government in one of the Principal Means he hath pitched on to administer it by in our present State for with them it 's Damnable to be excited to Duty by hope of any good upon Obedience or by fear of missing that Good if we obey not And so in Truth Promises and Threats are Nullities as to God's Government Hence Mr. M. resolves all the Reasons of Obedience into Motives of what God hath done for us Page 70. Indeed they are Motives but they are not the only Motives nor the chief Motives that God makes use of nor what are fittest to impress Mankind yea or Christians whilst they be so Imperfect and encompassed with Sâ—ares We see they restrain not Wrath Malice Faction c. in too many How dare Men say Is it Damning to submit to such Arguments which God so often useth from future Rewards and Punishments because he sometimes moves us from past Privileges or present Decencies Yea though you should add the Authority of the Precepts whilst you divest them of all Promises and Threatnings to invigorate Mens Compliances therewith We say Frustra est praecipere quod impune potest negligi Christ saith Iohn 13.17 If you know these things happy are you if you do them John 12 48 He that rejecteth me and receives not my words hath one that judgeth him the word that I have spoken that shall judge him Gal. 6.7 8. Be not deceived God is not mocked what a Man soweth that shall he reap For he that soweth to the Flesh shall of the Flesh reap Corruption but he that soweth to the Spirit shall of the Spirit reap Life Everlasting I might transcribe the greatest part of the Bible to prove this 12. They dreadfully Contradict themselves in all the profitable Sermons they preach Mr. M. saith it 's a Damnable Error in me to say that God gives any Benefit in a way of Reward or Encouragement upon Believing though not as a Debt or as if Faith merited ought yea and it 's in and for Christ's Righteousness that it is given Yet hear himself Page 68. Oh get Faith see that you Believe for in this way it will come to pass that the Righteousness of Christ shall be upon you If a Man should ask him Doth God command me to believe Ans. Yes But doth God by you perswade me to believe by this Argument That Christ's Righteousness shall be upon me Ans. Yes sure or it 's a meer Delusion Q. Well but shall I have it upon my Believing A. Yes it is in this way But will it be upon me if I believe not Ans. No I have told you Page 66. Your Souls shall go down into Hell Qu. Do you intend that I may tell my own backward Heart If thou wilt believe thou shalt have an Interest in this Blessed Righteousness and so urge the Worth of this and the Necessity of Believing upon my Soul I suppose Mr. M. must here suspend But if I ask may I expect assuredly when I am through Grace enabled to believe that upon this God will put the Righteousness of Christ upon me and make good the word wherein he caused me to hope viz. That if I did Believe the Righteousness of Christ should be upon me Here Mr. M. by his Principle must cry out O No this is to follow a Soul-destroying Error if there be any in the World Page 46. But Sir I will not plead my Faith as any Merit but only plead the Promise God is pleased to make to my Faith and rely on that word now that I have Faith Mr. M. yet that 's Damnable for then it comes in a way of Reward Then I ask again If that be Damnable Pray why did you use this Motive in the name of Christ to perswade me to believe How could it be a Motive to Faith if I was not to expect it upon believing And if I was to expect it before I believed in case that I would believe Why may not I expect it now that I do believe I know not what Answer Mr. M. will make unless 1. It 's something done by Man Or 2. God will be still at liberty to perform or not perform the Benefit though he did promise it Or 3. He will not perform it in the way he promised it that is He promised it as an Encouragement to you if you would believe but he will not accomplish it as an Encouragement now thaâ— you do believe nor seem so much to approve of your Faith The first were Silly because it was a Man was perswaded to do this eveâ— to believe for I hope it 's a Humane Act though by the Spirits Power The second is to impeach the Truth of God's Word The third is a weak Foppery as if it were a Dishonour to God to give the Benefit in the way he chose to use it as a Motive to the Duty especially when as Mr. M. owneth it 's by the Gospel-word that God puts this Righteousness on us which is the very same Word whereby he urgeth this Benefit as a Motive to Man's Believing If I again ask Why Mr. M. would by this Motive thus perswade Sinners to Believe He would I hope say This is the way God hath ordained to convert them to the Faith But why dare he Preach thus when it implies what he calls a Damning Error or else it 's a meer Mockery I 'll answer for him He had a mind to venture a Contradiction rather than be wholly useless to those People whom he designed to frighten from the Ministry of others as Damnable that he and his Party might be more considerable Reader Would'st thou know whence comes this Confusion I 'll tell thee it is Because they consider not 1. That though the Gospel be not a Law wherein Governing Justice displays it self in the Adjustment of Benefits to the Duty yet therein there is a Governing Authority in a way of Grace suitable to the State of Men in the dispensing of the Fruits of Christ's Death 2. That a Reward of Grace is quite another thing than a Reward of Debt 3. That all Gospel-Benefits are given in Christ's Right and are the Effects of his Righteousness applied to all that partake of them 4. That all Gospel-Precepts and Promises do Authoritatively appoint and describe the Persons that are Parâ—â—kers of Benefits for the sake of Christ's Righteousness but not their own and not put Men on purchasing these Benefits 5. Yet these do fully distinguish them that shall partake of the Benefits from others that shall not partake of them The Gospel doth hereby fix a
effects be produced in a different manner We must not limit our being made Righteous by Christ's Obedience below our being made Sinners by Adam's Disobedience as far as Adam made us Sinners so far Christ makes us Righteous or the reddition is improper We are as truly absolved by Christ's Obedience as we were made guilty by Adam's Disobedience And we are as truly Regenerated by Christ's Obedience as we were Depraved by Adam's Disobedience In the first we are made free from the Curse of the Law due to us as Sinners in the later we are preserved from being impenitent ungodly Infidels to whom the Gospel doth not give a freedom from the Curse but leaves such under the Law 's Sentence yea denounceth greater punishments against them By the first we have a full Righteousness to stand before God in notwithstanding the exactness of the Law of Innocency and all our Faults and Defects By the second we are render'd the Objects or Subjects of that full Righteousness according â—o the Gospel promise which is the Instrument whereby God bestows it But hereof more fully in due place I shall insist most on the first point 1. To be made Righteous by Christ's Obedience is to be made Free from Condemnation as if we had not Sinned and to be Entitled to Acceptance with God and Eternal Glory as if we had kept the whole Law and both for the sake of Christ's Righteousness imputed to Penitent Believâ—â—s for Pardon and Adoption I can in the shortest way Comprehend the Nature and Parts of this Particular by the following Propositions 1 Pro. All Men are unrighteous by nature Rom. 3.10 There is none righteous no not one We are all Transgressors and therefore each is liable to Vengeance Rom. 3.19 All the world is become guilty before God 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 he might have arrested and Executed Judgment upon all of us When Innocency ceased the Sentence of the Law took place and obnoxiousness to Misery inevitably followed This includes a forfeiture of Right to Happiness by the Law of Works Be sure if it condemns us by its Threats it cannot reward us by its Promise Disobedience putting us past a possibility of perfectly obeying which was the Condition of its Reward Therefore by the deeds of the law shall no flesh living be justified for by the law is the knowledge of sin Rom. 3.20 God can never speak peace by it to the Sinner nor acquit the Offender because by it he condemns for the least Sin and promiseth Life to none but the perfectly Obedient By this Law Sin is not only known to be Sin but Sin is known to bring Damnation and to bar us from Happiness Hence though Christ's Obedience was perfect according to the Law yet it is not by the Law that God pronounceth the Believer just but by the Gospel Righteousness comes not by the Law Gal. 2.21 No Man is justified by the Law Gal. 3.11 Exh. Be affected with that Unrighteous State wherein you all once have been and the Impenitent still remain Is it a small thing to have been Rebels against the holy Law of your Maker Can you make a light account of being under the Curse which comprehends the utmost Misery Gal. 3.10 This as a flaming Sword keeps thee from the Tree of Life and with irresistible power binds Vengeance on thee whilst thou art Christless Divine Wrath points to thee as the Obnoxious Person and in the mean time thou hast no Claim to God's Favour no Title to God or any Saving Blessing In this State the best of you once were Eph. 2.12 And what Grace was it that refâ—ued you out of this extremity Who can enough adore it But what is the stupidness of such among you that can quietly sleep in an Unrighteous State yea so long despise and refuse Deliverance from it Hell is your due every moment and should you die in this condition as you may without farther warning neither the Mercy of God nor the Merits of Christ will prevent Eternal Torments 2 Pro. God is so Righteous and Jealous of the Glory of his Government that his richest Mercy admits the Pardon of no Offender nor Saving Benefits to such as in the least fail in their Obedience but on the account of a Righteousness at least exactly adequate to what strict governing Justice did enjoin and prescribe It must be a Righteousness of Obedience as perfect as the Law Precept required of Men it must be a Righteousness of Satisfaction by bearing a Punishment equivalent to what the Law Threatning denounced against Sinners And because this Law in its Precepts and Threats was a Law to Men and they were Men that transgressed therefore Justice required that the Obedience should be yielded and the Punishment suffered by and in the Humane Nature Hence even the Son of God must take our Flesh if he would be a Redeemer The Satisfaction must yield as much glory to Justice as the Sin forgiven did injure it The Merit must be proportioned in the Scale of Justice to the Benefit to be conferr'd and that upon Offenders which render'd what was appointed to Christ to be above what the Law required of Men. Of which I have spoken somewhat already and shall have reason again to enlarge Rom. 3.26 His Righteousness is declared and he appears just when the Justifier of him that believes in Jesus Sin must be condemned in the flesh of Christ by his dying a Sacrifice for it that the righteousness of the law might be fulfilled in us who walk not after the flesh but after the spirit Rom. 8.34 Exh. Adore the Authority and Justice of God notwithstanding Pardoning Mercy The Atonement speaks it neither is it debased by all the Displays of Grace We are as subject to God as if he had never spared us and he is still as just as if all Mankind were to be damned If you despise his Dominion you shall find the edge of his Sword if you reject the Atonement the Severity of his Justice will instance it self upon you See then that you provoke not the Lord to jealousie Deut. 29.20 3 Pro. No Grace nor Act of the best Saint can be a Satisfaction for the least Fault or a Righteousness Meritorious of the least Benefit All Saints have sinned yea Sins and Defects adhere to their best Duties Our exactest actions cannot atone for a past Crime because they are no more than what 's at present due from us Imperfect Duties cannot merit because they are not in the estimate of governing Justice proportioned to the lowest Benefit A Reward of Debt can be to none below him that never sinned and perfectly obeyeth Rom. 4.4 though a Reward of Grace is promised to the Upright Ps. 50.11 When we have done all we now can do we are unprofitable Servants and by the Law of Works the iniquity of our holy things were enough to bring us under condemnation Exh. See your need of a greater Righteousness than your own and submit to the
as free from Condemnation as if they had never sinned and accepted and entitled to eternal Glory as if they had kept the whole Law Rom. 8.1 There is no Condemnation to them that are in Christ Iesus who walk not after the Flesh but after the Spirit These are in that State wherein the Curse is restrained from arresting them Yea they are Heirs joynt heirs with Christ Rom. 8.17 the Gospel-Covenant is their Charter of right which is secured by the Death of Christ the Oath of God and Sacramental Seals The Death of Christ is to be considered not only as what purchased the Covenant-Blessings of which I have spoken before but also as what ratifies the Covenant to our Faith by Death its irrevocable as a Testament and it must be sure or the Lord of Glory had never died to secure the ends of it his Death is too great a thing to admit a doubt of the certainty of that Charter by which the Effects of that Death are granted Christians being thus free and thus accepted and entitled proclaims them Righteous Exh. Be comforted notwithstanding your Faults and Weaknesses whilst your Hearts are upright in God's Covenant What is not a just Challenge to the Sincerity of thy Faith ought not to make thee conclude thy self Accursed or quit thy hopes of Glory Failings may cause Mournings that we are so Imperfect when they ought not to perplex us as if we were in a lost Condition The same Mouth that delivered the Curse against Sinners in the Law hath published Forgiveness and applied Redemption to Believers though Sinners by the Gospel Gal. 3.13 14. If your Faults be objected Christ hath answered them If the Weakness of Graces be objected Christ hath made up that If the Greatness of Gospel-Benefits be objected it 's Christ hath purchased them and they are bestowed not for thy Graces but for Christ's Obedience though it be to such as even thou art if a sincere Penitent that they are given for the Gospel-Rule doth only appoint the Persons who receive the Benefits but not ordain us to make the Satisfaction for the Sin to be pardoned or to purchase the Glory to be received Wilt thou not let Christ appoint his own Legatees to his own Bequeathments and rejoyce in the Gifts whilst thou art the Person to whom he declares they belong If he had promised Heaven to a meer Sinner as such thou oughtest as a Sinner to expect it with Joy But he hath promised it to all believing Saints however imperfect and must not thou with Comfort look for it and not quit thy hopes till thou cease to be a believing Saint Yea he hath ministred further to thy Joy That he will influence thy Soul by his Warnings against Apostasie by Sacraments and by constant Supplies so that thou shalt Persevere 10 Pro. Christians become thus Righteous upon believing by the Righteousness of Christ imputed to them in their Justification and by the continuance of this Imputation they remain Righteous Upon our first believing we are justified Rom. 3.29 and there is a constant Imputation of Christ's Righteousness to the Believers for his continued Justification Did Men cease to be Believers God would cease to impute the Righteousness of Christ to them Did God cease to impute Christ's Righteousness Men would cease to be justified and did we cease to be justified we should be subject to Condemnation But blessed be God he will cause the true Believer to persevere in Faith and so he shall remain in a justified State God will preserve the Habit of Faith enable him to frequent Acts of Faith and still prevent damning Infidelity he will keep thee from a prevailing distrust and rejection of Christ as a Saviour Luke 22.32 and from reigning Disobedience to him as thy Lord. I shall explain this great Truth of Justification by the imputed Righteousness of Christ which may be conceived of according to the following Heads 1. There is a making us Righteous as it is a giving a Believer a right to Pardon Absolution from the Curse Adoption and Acceptance which is by imputing the Righteousness of Christ to the Believer We must be made Righteous before a just God can pronounce us so or deal with us as such there must be a right to Pardon e're God will Pardon this right to Pardon is given by God's imputing to us the Righteousness of Christ and the effect of that imputing Act seems to be the first Consideration in the Change made in our State as justified For the better apprehending of this you may remember I have before informed you that Christ's Righteousness may be considered 1 As the full Performance of the Conditions of the Covenant of Redemption which included a full Conformity to the Law of Works yea and morâ— 2 An adjudged Right to the promised Reward for his performance of those Conditions Now both these are imputed to the Believer in this first Consideration Of giving a Believer a right to Pardon c. 1. The Righteousness of Christ as it was the Performance of the Conditions of our Salvation is mediately imputed to the Believer God adjudgeth that what Christ did and suffered for the actual Remission of Sinners was really done and suffered for us it belongs to us we are the designed Objects of that actual Remission to procure which for us that Obedience was rendred Iohn 3.16 God so loved the World that he gave his only begotten Son that whoever believeth on him should not perish but have everlasting Life Here we see that God gave his Son to do and suffer what he did that Believers thereby might not Perish but eternally Live Now by Grace beinâ— Believers that we may have a right not uâ— Perish but Live we have what the Son â— given did and suffered reckoned and accounteâ— to us God looks on what Christ did as donâ— for us and esteems us Believers them whom his Son did that for and therefore by his gracious Ordination we are the very Persons thaâ— have a right to Pardon of those Sins for whicâ— we were liable to Perish and excluded from Life I say Christ's very Performance of the Conditions is imputed mediately in this manner If one give me my Liberty which he voluntarily purchased for me at a dear Rate he mediately gives me what he paid for my Ransom though immediately I receive my Liberty and a right thereto whereas the redeeming Price was paid to my Detainer in whose hands I was Captive So it was to God that Christ made Satisfaction and yielded the Meriting Price yet it is applied and reckoned so to the Believer that he receives the same Blessings thereby as if himself had rendred it because it was for his Title to those Benefits that it was rendred by Christ. Yea by this Imputation it becomes his Security for all saving Benefits and pleadable with God by him with respect to what is purchased for Believers thereby as if he had endured and performed the things Christ did Since God
a great Means of their Perseverance which Divine Wisdom hath appointed Obj. Christ's Righteousness upon us keeps our Faith Ans. And yet keeping our Faith through God's Power keeps that Righteousness upon us to Salvation 1 Pet. 1.5 And know that Christ's Righteousness is applied in Correspondence with the Gospel-Rule It is not upon the Apostate to give him a Right to Salvation but upon the Persevering Believer It is on the Believer for his present Right but it is in Christ for to be still applied to the Persevering Believer for his continued Right Obj. The Believer will not fall away Ans. It is not naturally Impossible but it 's by Grace that he shall not fall away But then God's Helps and Means must be used by him of which these Cautions are not the least and the Connexion between Apostasie and the loss of Salvation is never the less true and so Mr. M's Principal never the less false for if ever he draw back my Soul shall have no Pleasure in him and truly you may as well infer that Faith is not necessary to our justification at first as that Perseverance is not necessary to our continuing so For it was as sure of the Elect. even before they believed that they should be justified It 's sure of the Believer before he persevere that he shall be saved But yet if Faith be necessary to the first so Perseverance is by as express Testimony necessary to the last 2. It is not blamably legal Fear for Believers to be sollicitously cautious in resisting Temptations and sâ—riving in Christ's Strength to persevere and this lest they eternally perish hold fast that which thou hast that no Man take thy Crown Rev. 3.10 was a fit Means to beget Care in holding fast Heb. 4.1 is a Caution the Apostle comprehends himself in Let us fear left a Promise being left us any of us should seem to come short of it any appearing challenge from within themselves was matter of Fear for on Christ's Part there 's no Suspicion It 's a divine Charge Phil. 2.13 Workout your own Salvation with Trembling and Fear not only begin it so but so work it out Nay in no span of Time on this side the Grave is the best Saint exempted Pass the Time of your sojourning here in Fear and the Reason is If you call upon the Father who without respect of Persons judgeth according to every Man's Work 1 Pet. 1. 17. These Men now tell us There is no judicial Process of Believers no Judgment by a Gospel-rule It will not be asked you what Sin you have committed or forsaken or Duty you have omitted or Good you have done but are you in Christ As if these were of no Use to determine whether we are in Christ truly or no and as if a Privilege were the proper matter of a Judicial Trial. Mr. M. may know whose these are Oh Christians Is our Race as yet run our Fight already fought or our Dangers past Are we still in Via or in Termino 3. A Man that hath once believed if he should fall under the reigning Power of Sin and Corruption ought to suspect that he is not in a State of Salvation Rom. 8. 13. If ye live after the Flesh ye shall die but if ye mortifie the Deed of of the Flesh by the Spirit ye shall live was a Truth directed to all the Saints at Rome and let me tell you the Dominion of Sin is a more sure Evidence that Men are now out of a State of Salvation than the Knowledge of their Consciences that they formerly believed is of their ever being in a State of Salvation For this may be a mistaken Knowledge but the other is the divine Word These Conceits are obviated Ezek. 33. 13. when I say to the righteous he shall surely live if he trust to his own Righteousness and commit Iniquity all his Righteousness shall not be remembred but for his Iniquity that he hath committed he shall surely die for it i. e. If because he began to do well and because he hath done so for a Time he ventures to give up himself to a Course of Sin he shall certainly perish for it This is the plain Sense of the Place notwithstanding Mr. M. forced Perversion of it against our expecting any Benefit upon performing any Duty The Apostle Paul thought not himself above this Rule 1 Cor. 9.11 24. I keep my Body under lest when I have preached to others I my self should be a Cast-away What a damning Sentence would Mr. M. pass on Turretin Perkins Mr. Anthony Burgess and most of our old Divines who jointly assert That if David had died before he had repented of the Murther of Vria he had been damned Nay that comfortable Text Rom. 8.1 brands his Position there 's no Condemnation to them that are in Christ Who walk not after the Flesh but after the Spirit whence it 's evident That if they now walk after the Flesh they shall be condemned at least from its being inconsistent with their present being in Christ whatever they think of their former believing I will not retort damning on Mr. M's Opinion yet to such Souls who credit his Notion That whatever thy Corruptions now be if thy Conscience know that thou hast believed formerly they Salvation is safe I must in pity say thou mayest eternally perish by it For thou canst not judge now it was a true saving Act but according to the Sentence of Conscience and they Conscience may be mistaken yea if thy Corruptions now have Dominion over thee and continue so God warns thee Let no Man eeceive you with vain Words for these things the Wrath of God comes upon the Children of Disobedience Eph. 5.6 3 Charge And whether he do not in Truth disown the Imputation of our Sins unto Christ and of his Righteousness unto us It is like if he live the World will see more fully for he hath given such pregnant Indications thereof as do amount to at least just Cause of Iealousie Repl. 1. Is it come so low as a Jealousie now When he was one that under his Hand affirmed thus of me He teacheth that the Righteousness of Christ is imputed only as to Effects with a Purchase of a Conditional grant viz. This Proposition He that believeth shall be saved and they cite for it though in contrary Words Gospel Truth p. 39. where my Words are these I affirm That Christ by his Righteousness merited for all the Elect that they should in his Time and Way be certainly Partakers of its saving Effects and did not only purchase a conditional Grant of those Effects viz. That Proposition He that believeth shall be saved And besides these Effects being made ours the very Righteousness of Christ is imputed to true Believers as what was always undertaken and designed for their Salvation and is now effectual to their actual Pardon and Acceptance to Life yea is pleadable by them as their Security and is as useful to
the Heart of Stone and gives a heart of Flesh renewing their Wills and by his power determining them to that which is good and effectually drawing them to Jesus Christ Conf. Cap. 10. A. 1. Q. 2. Man is altogether Passive therein until being quickned by the holy Spirit he is thereby enabled to answer this Call and to embrace the Grace offered and conveyed in it Large Cat. A. 73. Faith justifies a sinner in the sight of God not because of those other Graces which do always accompany it or of good Works that are the fruit of it Here we see that there is a quickning regenerating Work and Change on the Heart and Will in order to the Act of Faith and that there is no Faith unaccompanied at any time by other Graces and that by good works they intend not such Graces c. Did not Mr. M. tell us p. 60. that in effecting our Vital Vnion there is a Vital touch as I may say between Christ and us and a Clasping on each other Is there a Vital Touch before Life or a Clasping while we are Dead Doth the Mind see Christ whilst it 's Blind or the Will embrace him whilst it 's morally dead impotent unperswaded and averse Do we consent to Christ and Covenant with him whilst Satan Sin and Enmity Reign in our Faculties or open the Door to Christ whilst these keep the Keys God saith the natural Man receiveth not the things of God because they are spiritually discerned 1 Cor. 2.14 but Mr. M. saith yea it 's while they are natural that they see Christ and close with him Here 's a knowledg of an ignorant Mind here 's a coming and receiving without Life Here 's a Faith the Gospel Covenant never promiseth for it 's not included in God's Writing his Laws in the Heart The whole stress of Salvation is laid by him on an Act of a dead unregenerate sinner and Men are justified while the Soul is not turned from darkness to life nor from the power of Satan unto God Acts 26. 18. it were worth asking hâ—m whose Act this Act of Faith is It 's not a Humane Act unless you can suppose the Mind and Will can Act without any Vital Principle yea against it's own prevailing Principle Here then must be a force and unactiveness too in our very acting and it 's a strange Clasping of what we hate and abhor I doubt here may come in again Christ's believing for us However he must think 1. That our Faith after we are alive is either a Faith specifically distinct from that which justified us or it 's still an Act not effected by a regenerate Principle but is somewhat either below Life or above Man even when he is spiritualized he seems to bid at both His Simile is for the first the Spirits which he saith are Corporeal Clasp about the Soul for Life so it seems our Faith is a dead thing always never made Life or Living any more than those Spirits are made Soul otherwise it loseth its Clasping meetness as they would do in ceasing to be Corporeal Yet other times he makes it look like a Divinity Clasp about us 2. I do now see a little why the Man is so against God's giving us any saving Benefit in any way of Reward though not of Debt It 's because Faith is the only thing ordained not required as a Physical means on our part and this is so low a thing that a dead sinner may act or so sublime as not to be a Humane Act. 3. Again I see why he doth still confine our Justification to the end to the first Act of Faith yea and deny the immediate influence of Faith on our Justification for if you should bring it among Duties or to be under the Notion of a Duty all is spoiled No it must be a meer Physical Band of Union not enjoined by God as our Ruler but appointed as the Corporeal Spirits for Ligaments I dare not touch the Philosophy part of that lest if I name Embrio he should Curse me anew 4. I know now at last why he thought me a Pelegian the selfish reason why he writ it to London I knew long since because I in a Printed Sermon put the Act of Faith after spiritual Life it seems I should have said with him That in Vnion with Christ as one mystical Person which is by the efficient causality of Faith we are brought into a state of Spiritual Life Relative in our Iustification and Adoption and then and thereupon Qualitative c. p. 60. His Proofs for Faith before Life because Christ promiseth Life upon believing are contemptible as if further spiritual Life and Pardon and Eternal Glory be not Life as well as Hell is Death ' and some sinners twice dead 4. The Faith he so much insists on hath not all the Essentials of a saving Faith I know many Worthy Men distinguish between Faith quae justificat and qua justificat and no doubt the Soul hath an especial respect to Christ as Priest and his Righteousness in order to Justification But our Discourse is of the Faith quae justificat What that Faith is he tells us p. 62. Faith is a going out of our selves unto Christ for all And p. 40. The Hearts acting towards this Object in its believing is most properly in a way of trust and dependance and affiance Rep. 1. We have just seen it wants a Vital Principle as it is the Act of an unregenerate dead Soul Now this brings it in the Judgment of most Divines to be no saving act at all no saving Faith because the Act of a Natural and Dead Sinner 2. I need not mention that it is no obediential Act And note That when our Divines deny that Faith is not Imputed as an Act of Believing or as an Evangelical Act of Obedience they say it 's not as such imputed as our justifying Righteousness which I grant But they positively affirm that the Faith by which Christ's Righteousness becomes imputed is an Act of evangelical Obedience Confess Chap. 11. A. 1. Again 3. I will not insist how far the Assent of this Faith is limited as to its Object as well as its Nature 4. I do grant That by Gospel-faith we trust in and depend on Christ as our only Saviour and that by it we go out of our selves to Christ for all Attonement Merit Causality of Acceptance of all we do and Strength and Grace to enable us to all 5. Yet see how much more the Assembly includes in saving Faith Confess Chap. 14. A. 2 By this Grace Faith a Christian believeth to be true whaever is revealed in the Word for the Authority of God himself speaking therein and acteth differently upon that which each particular Passage thereof containeth yielding Obedience to the Commands Trembling at the Threatnings and embracing the Promises of God for this Life and that which is to come but the principal Acts of saving Faith are accepting receiving and restin