because we fulfil or obey the Command of believing in Christ Against this I thus argue 1. If Faith justify as a fulfilling the command of believing then the 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 credere Faith it self is our Righteousness and Christ's Righteousness hath only procur'd a Covenant of Faith by fulfilling whereof we should be justifyed as we should have been by fulfilling the Law of Works For in this Opinion Faith justifyeth as Obedience to the Command of believing and Obedience cannot be the Medium of applying Christ's Obedience for our Righteousness but is it self a righteousness according to the Law that requires it So then Faith must be our Righteousness now as perfect Obedience was under the Law and must justify as the Work of the Gospel 2ly Faith is the unfittest of all Graces to be the condition of life because it is only a trust in Free-Mercy and carries with it an acknowledgement of our unworthiness and nothingness and so bringeth nothing to God but a bare object of Mercy and Compassion All other graces bring some positive Honour to God together with a denyal of our selves and our inordinate desires to the Creatures but Faith bringeth nothing but a confession of Misery with a desire and hope of Mercy therefore is unfit to be our Righteousness and to come into the room of Perfect Obedience 3ly If Faith justify as a condition then Man hath a natural power to believe in Christ how else can Faith be required of him as a new condition of life after he had failed of life by the first condition of Obedience The Gospel by this Doctrine is a Law of Faith but a proper Law doth suppose power to obey in the subjects of it Quest Obj. Quest 9. Vid. Pelt Art 13. Paragr 2. This Arminius confesseth Deum non posse ullo modo fidem in Jesum Christum postulare ab homine lapso quam ex se habere non potest nisi aut dederit aut dare paratus sit gratiam sufficientem quâ credere possit si velit i. e. God cannot by any means require Fallen Man to believe which of himself he cannot do unless he hath given him or will be ready to give grace sufficient to believe if he will 4ly If Faith be the gift of special grace as is acknowledged by these I now deal with how can it be required of all that hear the Gospel seeing they have neither power of their own to believe nor a promise that Faith shall be given them If it be said that Faith is promised I ask is it promised on some other condition or absolutely If upon condition then we shall have conditions in infinitum unless we stop in something that is in Man's Power to do Ibid. p. 55. as Amyraldus well observeth Fides impetrata fuit non ut offeretur sub acceptandi conditione sed ut ipsa illa conditio esset per quam salus recipitur alioqui res abiret in infinitum nec ullus unquam esset terminus conditionum impetrandarum If absolutely either to all that hear the Gospel and so all should believe or to some only but no such promise can be produc'd that when the Gospel is preach'd to a people such and such shall have Faith given them But if it be said the Promise of Life in Christ is declared to all and God persuadeth whom he pleaseth to trust in it Is it not then better to say that Faith is only an instrument whereby God inableth Men to lay hold of the Promise â—o Justification than to offer violence to the nature of all proper Laws and the conditions of them by making Faith the condition required by a proper Law which Man hath not â—ower to perform nor is sure to have it given when he needeth it and I suppose no instance can be given of any such Law either Human or Divine that requireth a condition out of the power or beyond the ability of the subject before the Law was made and doth not certainly provide that ability for him any other way The Second Opinion is of those that affirm Obedience to be included in Faith and so Faith and Obedience to be the condition of life i. e. that we are required sincerely to believe and obey the Gospel Commands Histories and Promises to our lives end and for so doing we shall be justified and saved Faith in this Opinion is not an immediate trust in the Promise of life through Christ but a general belief of the truth of the Histories and Promises of the Gospel encouraging to obey the Precepts of it yea though there be 〈◊〉 particular persuasion that this man in particular shall be saved if he obey the Gospel 〈◊〉 yet this is not proper trust or affiance but a more practical assent to the general Promises and Doctrine of the Gospel a trust upon an uncertain condition is no more a truâ— and proper trust than a proposition depending on a future contingency is a proper oâ— certain proposition or hath determinate truth or falshood This is the Doctrine 〈◊〉 the Remonstrants as hath been shewed Chapâ— 5. We may also observe That though thâ— Opinion be commonly exprest by believing in or receiving Christ as our King and Prophet as well as Priest yet in truth it maketh Faith or the condition of the Gospel tâ— respect Christ only as a King immediately and as a Prophet and Priest accidentally and remotely For to prescribe Laws and Conditions of Life whereby men must be judged saved or condemned and then to judge them by those Laws and either justifie or condemn them for their obedience or disobedience to them are all Kingly Acts or Exercises of Kingly Power and these only are immediately respected by this Faith which is nothing else but obeying what Christ hath commanded upon belief of the truth of what he hath declared and promised to that Obedience and so is that for which men shall be judicially justified It is true Christ as a Prophet doth explain and teach his own Law but this is accidental to a Legislator and men must obey the teaching of Christ but obedience as such is not because he teacheth but because he that teacheth is also the Law maker and hath authority to command obedience Therefore Faith as obedience and so justifying doth not properly respect Christ as a Prophet nor doth it eye him as a Priest being not a trust in his satisfaction and Righteousness to be saved by it which was the main Exercise of his Priestly Office but an obedience to the New Law which Christ had made as a King and only had purchased as a Priest leave of the Father to make such a Law and that those that obeyed it should be saved The Priesthood therefore of Christ is but remotely respected in believing as the foundation of his Law and Promises annexed to it This Mr. Baxter confesseth in effect 1 Disput of Just P. 25. when he saith Christ's Merit is the remote moral cause of our
Argument 4. We are justifyed by Christ as Priest p. 24. Prophet and King conjunctly and not by any of these alone much less by his Humiliation and Obedience alone then according to the Opponents own Principles who argue from the distinct interest of the several parts of the Objects to the distinct interest of the several acts of Faith we are justified by believing in Christ as Priest Prophet and King Answ Faith as a distinct habit hath no acts but practical assent to a revealed truth which in respect of the promise is called trust or affiance One habit hath but one sort of elicite acts though it may cause divers effects upon the will and affections according to the nature of divers objects therefore we do not argue from the distinct interest of several acts of Faith but from Faith as trusting in the Promise of Justification as the special object of the act that justifieth Again the Object of justifying Faith according to this Opinion must be the whole declared Will of Christ or the whole Gospel for that is it which we believe and obey and Obedience to it is the form or righteousness by and for which we are justifyed therefore those Terms of Christ's justifying in his whole Person and all his Offices or Faith justifying with respect to them are added in vain they being no more included in the nature of Justification or respected by Faith as justifying in this way than in ours The promise of life by Christ to believing only is as much founded upon his whole Person and all his Offices as if the promise were made to our Obedience to the whole Gospel But we deny the Antecedent let us hear the proof The Word Justification signifieth these 3 acts p. 24. 1st Condonation or constitutive Justification by the Law of grace or promise of the Gospel 2ly Absolution by sentence in judgment 3ly The execution of the former by actual liberation from penalty The two former are more properly called Justification As for the first I argue Christ doth as King and Benefactor on supposition of his antecedent Merits enact the Law of grace or promise by which we are justified Ergò As King and Benefactour he doth justifie us by condonation or constitution As the Father by a right of Creation was Rector of the new created World and so made the Covenant of Life that was then made so the Son and the Father by right of Redemption is Rector of the new redeemed World and so made the Law of grace that gives Christ and life to all that will believe c. Answ Christ as God the same in substance with the Father did together with him enact both the Covenants of Works and of Grace but as Mediator which only is to our purpose he did not enact the Covenant or Law of Grace and it is only said that he did and not proved It was God as God and in special the Father according to the order of the Three Persons that gave the Law of Works that was offended by sin that condemned sinners and therefore he only that could appoint a way whereby they should be saved and he only coul justifie him Christ as Mediator though God in Nature yet in Office was God's Servant Isa 53.11 Mat. 12 18. and his business was not to enact Laws or constitute a way for Man's Redemption but to work out and bring to pass that way which God purchased and to fulfil his Will in it Heb. 10.7 which he did first by satisfying the Law and purchasing Reconciliation as a Priest then by declaring as a Prophet that Pardon was to be had by believing in his Bloud and Lastly as a King yet ministerial under the Father by overpouring the hearts of Gods Elect to believe that God might justify them and then by sanctifying and ruling them by his Word and Spirit to bring them to life It belongeth to the Father to justifie constitutively i. e. to propose the way wherein Men should be justified and through believing to justifie them to the Mediator almost but ministerially to declare it to Men by authority from the Father but most properly to bring it to pass by the execution of all his Offices Rom. 8.33 34. It is God that justifies it is Christ that died rose and intercedeth p. 25. 2ly It is said Justification by sentence of judgment is undeniably by Christ as King for God hath appointed to judge the World by him Acts 17.31 c. Answ Christ in judging the World is but a ministerial King For God is the Supream Judg Heb. 12.23 however we deny what is here took for granted That the sentence of the General Judgment is a declaration of a sinners Justification from the guilt of sin It is only the adjudging of justified Believers to Glory in Heaven for their Obedience according to Gods Fatherly promise p. 25. 3ly It is said For the execution of the sentence by actual liberation there can be little doubt being after both the former Answ Christ is ministerial in this also for he calleth Believers to inherit the Kingdom as being the blessed of the Father and it being prepared for them from the beginning of the World Mat. 25.34 Besides Glory in Heaven is a fruit of Adoption not of Justification immediately and Adoption is the act of the Father not of the Mediator And let it be observed That here all Justification is referred to Christ as King properly and immediately as was before said and he as Priest and Prophet did but make way for his justifying of us as King and therefore these offices are mentioned in the Question only for a shew that they acknowledge we are justifyed by his Bloud This is in effect confessed in the following words As the Teacher of the Church Christ doth not immediately justify but yet mediately he doth Ibid. and it is but mediately that he justifyeth by his Merits It is also said That Christ's granting the Promise or Act of Grace is the true natural p. 25. efficient instrumental Cause of Justification even the immediate Cause So then the whole Gospel as to be obeyed by us is the proper and immediate Instrument of our Justification and our obedience to the Gospel together with God's acceptance of it is the only internal Cause of Justification or the Righteousness for which we are justifyed and Christ's Merit and Righteousness and his Promulgation of the Gospel are but extrinsecal remote and preparatory Causes of it and these not absolutely necessary seeing these Authors do not deny but that God might have saved man without satisfaction and then it will follow if a man obey the Precepts of the Gospel and acknowledge Christ as Lord and King he may be saved although he believe only in a Glorified Saviour as the Jesuites preached to the people of China yea I understand not but a Socinian may be saved by obeying the Gospel though he deny the Merit of Christ having
Lutherus Redivivus OR The Protestant Doctrine of JUSTIFICATION By Christ's Righteousness Imputed to BELIEVERS Explained and Vindicated PART II. By John Troughton Minister of the Gospel sometimes Fellow of S. John's Coll. in Oxon. Augustin Epist 105. Ad Sixtum Presbyterum Romanum Nullane ergò sunt merita Justorum Sunt planè quia justi sunt sed ut justi fierent merita non fecerunt Justi enim facti sunt cum justificati sunt sed sicut dicit Apostolus Justificati gratis per gratiam ipsius LONDON Printed for Sam. Lee near Popes-Head-Alley in Lumbard-Street 1678. THE PREFACE TO THE READER Courteous Reader IN the former Part of this Work I endeavoured to open and refute the Novel Opinion of Justification upon condition of Obedience to the Gospel Which however plausibly worded and vented is in substance no other than the Old Popish Doctrine of Merits and Justification by Works And wherein it is refin'd from the old School-Notions it cometh but so much the nearer to Socinianism from whence the whole Platform of this Doctrine was taken and differs from it very little In this present Treatise my work is to explain and confirm the Protestant Doctrine of Justification by the Righteousness of Christ imputed to us by God and received by us by Faith which is denied by the Assertors of Conditional Justification They are indeed almost as loath the People should know that they deny us to be justified by the Merits or Righteousness of Christ as once Steph. Gardner was That the Doctrine of Justification by Free Grace should be preached to them And for the same Reason viz. The saving of their own Credit And hence they tell us That the Term of Imputation of Righteousness is still to be retained That Christ meriteth our Justification That he is our Legal or Pro-legal Righteousness c. They speak as like our Orthodox Divines as they can that it may not commonly appear wherein they differ Yet in all this they mean no more but that Christ by his Obedience or Death or both obtained a New Covenant for us i. e. the Evangelical Law which if we fulfill and continue in it to the end of our Lives we shall have our Sins pardoned shall be accepted and saved So that the Righteousness for which we shall be accepted and made Heirs of Eternal Life is our Obedience to the Gospel not the Obedience or Righteousness of Jesus Christ and with them the Imputing of Christ's Righteousness to us for Justification is our being justified by our own Obedience to the Gospel-Covenant which Christ procured by his Righteousness not our being justified or accepted to life for the Righteousness of Christ intended and performed immediately and only for us as all Protestants have hitherto taught except the Dutch Arminians and their Followers They do endeavour to obscure and perplex the Question what they can partly by the Rhetorical and sometimes Imprudent Expressions of Popular Preachers and Writers which ought rather to be interpreted and qualified than exagitated to the prejudice of Truth and partly by the Philosophical Notions and School-Terms accommodated to this Doctrine as well as others and too much transferred from the Schools of the Learned to the Pulpit and popular Congregations From both these they pick matters of quarrel against this received and fundamental Truth And always propose the Question in such terms that it may seem they dispute only against the Antinomians or some that have spoke too like them or else some Logical Notions and Formalities of School-Divines Amongst all that I have read with some care to know the true state of the Question and what the New Doctrine of those men is I have not met with one that doth fairly and ingenuously state the Question according to the Sence which they intend and dispute for But they always thrust in some terms lyable to exception which belong not to the substance of the Question it self e. g. They usually propound the Question thus Whether Christ's Righteousness be imputed to us so that we are accounted by God to have done and suffered all that Christ did and suffered for us whether we fulfill the Law in him and suffered the Penalty of it in him And then they infer from the Doctrine of Imputation in general what followeth only from their misrepresenting it That we satisfied for our selves obeyed and suffered for our selves were our own Mediatours and Saviours c. Which Consequences seem not only uncooth but absurd I and are readily received by the unlearned and precipitant Wits who had rather seem ingenious in finding fault with old received Doctrines than take pains to understand them throughly I have endeavoured to divest the Doctrine of Justification by Christ's Righteousness Imputed of the Additions both of School-Notions and popular Rhetorick and to present it in the plain Scriptural dress to prove it by plain Scripture and Arguments deduced thence in the three first Chapters and then to examine their Obâ—ections against it which when they are levelled against the Question as it is plainly stated are so inconsiderable that I cannot but wonder that Learned and Pious men should lay so great a stress upon them as to innovate and alter the Doctrine which all the Protestants have profest writ and died for this is done in the fourth Chapter In the fifth and sixth I examine the original and true meaning of the opposite Opinion and refute it In the rest of the Book I explain and defend the Instrumental Office of Faith in justifying us and answer the Objections against it The Question betwixt us is plainly this Whether God doth justifie Believing Sinners i. e. acquit them from Guilt and Punishment and give them a Right to Eternal Life for their own Obedience to the Gospel Or immediately for the Righteousness of Christ wrought for them and trusted in by them as it is declared in the Promises of the Gospel The former they affirm and we have disproved in the other Part The latter they deny and we affirm and â—â—ove viz. That God doth accept believing Sinners and gives them a certain grant of Eternal Life directly and immediately for the Obedience of Christ â—â—ought for them and proposed to them 〈◊〉 the Promises We say further As to impute Sin 〈◊〉 to account a man a Sinner and juâ—â—ciously to charge his Sin upon him to â—â—s Condemnation when a person hath â—â—thority to do it So to impute Righteousness is to account a man Righteous and judicially to discharge him â—â—om accusation and to grant him the â—â—ivileges and Benefits belonging to 〈◊〉 Righteous Man And therefore when righteousness is said to be imputed 〈◊〉 us without Works the meaning is â—â—at God accepteth us as Righteous â—schargeth us from all the Accusations 〈◊〉 the Law and grants us Right to all â—â—iritual Blessings without any respect 〈◊〉 our Obedience But immediately â—â—d properly for the Righteousness of â—â—rist wrought for us which is thereâ—â—re said to be imputed to us because
Divines at Dort Rationes omnes Act. Syn. Art 2. Ibid. à scripturis fideique analogia petitae quibus Christi incarnatio humiliatio vel exaltatio probatur vel confirmatur eò spectant ut demonstretur divina expressa intentio de fructuoso hujus tanti mysterii effectu non conditionaliter producendo nempe si homines cùm aeque nolle possint velint ut hic fructus in de enascatur sed infrustrabiliter efficiendo potentiâ divinâ id operante i. e. All those Arguments that prove the Incarnation Humiliation and Exaltation of Christ tend to this to shew that it was God's express intention to produce the certain effects of that great Mystery infallibly by his own power and not to leave them to be conditional depending upon Man's Will who might as well neglect and refuse as accept of them I conclude the Sum of this Doctrine comes to this That God took occasion by the Incarnation Obedience and Death of our Lord Jesus Christ to grant men terms of Salvation viz. if they should believe and obey the Gospel not as any satisfaction to his Justice or Law which man had broke but as some kind of salvo to his Honour at least as he was pleased to interpret it And what need Christ have been God to do no more than this How easie is the slip from hence into the dead Sea of Socinianism To lay that Christ came by his Life and Death to declare and confirm only this Covenant of Life on condition of Faith and Repentance and to intercede for the Penitents Indeed the whole platform of this Doctrine was borrowed from Socinus by the Arminians from whom most of our modern Writers have it and some immediately from the Socinian from whom also came that common but illogical Evasion of works being not the meritorious but the causa sine qua non of our Justification Opera ea sunt ex quibus justificamur sunt autem opera ista nostra Soc. de Justif apud Pelt i. e. ut dictum fuit obedientia quam Christo praestamus licet nec essiciens nec meritoria tamen causa ut vocant sine qua non justificationis coram Deo at que aeterne salut is nostrae I do not desire this should be believed on my credit much less do I write to reproach any who do in heart abhor that blasphemous heresie however their words and notions may agree too much with it I only beg that Scholars and Divines would take the pains to examin and compare them before they imbibe this new Doctrine CHAP. VII Of the Nature of Faith that it justifieth as an Instrument applying the Promises of life in Christ and not as a Condition or Part of Obedience T The Apostle Paul was sent to preach the Gospel to the Gentiles Act. 26. v. 17 18. to this end that they might receive the forgiveness of sins and an inheritance amongst thom which are sanctified by Faith which is in Christ therefore forgiveness and a right to the heavenly Inheritance comes by Faith But what this Faith is and how it gives right to Life is now to be inquired into In explaining the nature of Faith I shall wave all that is usually drawn from Philosophy to this Argument from the nature and difference of Man's Soul and his Faculties and the difference of the Faculties from each other also from the nature of Habits intellectual or moral which things are fit Exercises for Scholars but not fit to build the Doctrine of Justification and Eternal life upon and if the best Philosophers can give us no certain account how men see and hear and how the external Senses which yet are more material in their operations than the understanding do exercise their functions there is much less certainty to be had concerning the Faculties Operations and Habits of the rational part and the Scripture speaks of believing as a work of the whole Soul With the heart man believeth unto righteousness Rom. 10.9 The like may be said of every Grace and of every Sin that hath the consent of the Heart that they carry the whole Soul with them What then is this Faith The Socinians affirm Faith and Obedience to be really the same thing Peltius Artic. Parag. 21. distinct only formally or docendi causâ Soc. resp ad Epist Joan. Opera Fides nullo modo distinguuntur à Paulo nec ab ea seperari queant imò animo seu forma fidei sunt The Arminians agree with them in this and our late Authors with them both and make believing and obeying the Gospel all one and to be justified by Faith with them is to be justified by obedience to the Gospel Aphor. Th. 70. Hence it is that they describe Faith to be so to believe God as to love him fear him trust him and obey him in every particular command or more briefly to be an accepting of Christ for our Lord and Saviour i. e. to promise obedience to him Ibid. 69 67. and to desire and expect to be saved by him Now we grant as the Gospel is sometime taken for the whole Doctrine or Mind of Christ containing both Promises Precepts and Threatnings though properly it be nothing but a Promise of Life through Christ in contradistinction to all Law and Precepts so also the Faith of Christ and of the Gospel doth sometimes comprehend the whole Christian Profession whereby we promise both a belief of the doctrine and obedience to the Command of Christ Yet Faith taken properly is to be distinguished from all obediential Graces viz. those that are the immediate cause of obedience as much as those graces are distinct from each from other as Love from Fear both from Patience c. That we may wave that Philosophical question also whether Graces be several distinct habits or one universal habit distinguished by several acts and objects it is sufficient if Faith be distinct by its acts and proper object from all other graces as much as they are distinguished each from other And that it is so is evident because it is an assent of the mind to divinely revealed truth Its acts are to believe or assent its formal object is the revealed truth of God as such we speak of Divine Faith only The immediate End of it is the satisfaction of the mind in the certainty of a true proposition and the like All these are distinct from love fear desire which are the immediate principles of all obedience or practice in doing good or avoiding evil Moreover Faith is the root of obedience not as the immediate principle of the elicite acts of obedience but as a more remote principle which doth excite and direct all the immediate principles of it Thus Faith is prerequired to seeking and serving of God Heb. 11.2 to the End and yet the immediate principles of them were fear v. 7. self-denial v. 25. holy courage contempt of the World and the like Faith worketh by love Gal. 5.6 purifieth the
heart Acts 15.9 Therefore it is not love it self or the purity of the heart but something that inclineth and disposeth to love and purity and surely before we can love and obey God there must be an apprehension of his goodness faithfulness readiness to accept and reward which must incline the heart to it We cannot love and serve him 〈◊〉 we neither know him nor his Mind concerning us nor have any confidence in his good wilâ— towards us And this is Faith which we may thus describe Faith is a hearty and practical assent to all divine truth so as to believe the Histories fear the Threatnings trust in the I remises and expect the fulfilling of Prediction which proceed from God All this is easily gathered out of the 11. Heb. where the Apostle having spoken in the end of the 10th Chapter of believing to the saving of the Soul subjoynâ— this description of Faith v. 1. viz. That it is the substance 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the subsistence of things hoped for and the evidence 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 of things not seen which subsistence and evidence things yet suture have only in God's Word and Man's real belief of it things hoped for properly respect the Promises things not seen the History of things past as the belief of the Creation v. 2. and the Prediction of things to come as Noah by Faith feared the Deluge v. 7. and all the Patriarchs died in faith or expectation of the coming of Christ v. 13. Now that Faith hath several acts and causeth several affections as hope trust fear in the soul is because it hath several objects things to be desired things to be feared and things to be hoped for which is common to it with other graces which have their several acts and affections towards several objects or the same objects severally conâ—dered That special act of Faith which reâ—â—ects Promises or affection immediately â—owing from Faith without which it is not â—ompleat in Scripture is called by several â—ames rouling resting leaning relying upon God flying to him for resuge hiding our â—â—lves under him putting of our selves under â—he Shadow of his Wings which and the like â—re Metaphors from the Body and when we â—eak properly of the acts of the Soul are best â—prest by believing or trusting in the Promises which the Protestants express by fiduâ—a affiance or fiducial recumbence which is â—â—so the Scripture term of putting our hope and confidence in God and 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 a pervasion and 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 a full assurance of â—is Promise Now Faith justifieth a Sinner â—ot in its whole Latitude for so it believeth â—eer Histories as well as practical things and â—e Threatnings as well as the Promises and â—â—useth fear as well as hope But a Sinner cannot be reconciled unto God by fearing his Wrath and Judgment though fearing may â—cite him to look after mercy in the Promise â—or by believing the History of things past as â—â—e Creation and Floud or the Prediction of â—â—ings to come as the Resurrection and day 〈◊〉 Judgment though these things may set forth God's veracity and confirm the Truth of his promise and may excite fear and diligence 〈◊〉 seeking after mercy As trusting in the promises of particular mercies and deliverances is the means of obtaining those mercies as the promises are made to such faith or 〈◊〉 Isa 26.3.4 Thou shalt keep him in perse peace whose mind is stayed on thee because trusteth in thee The promises of deliverant go before and this is added as the means procure the accomplishment of them viz. That they should trust in God so in like mâ—ner the general promise of Pardon and Justfication is made to believing or trusting in and faith gives right to it and is the means having it performed to us Faith then justiâ—â— as it obtains mercy Heb. 11.33 Saintâ— Faith obtained Promises viz. a performan of them and in the Gospel frequently 〈◊〉 Faith hath saved thee and thy Faith hath mâ— thee whole c. As Faith obtains these mercies neither as an act of obedience not the cause or root of obedience but only trusting in the Power and Faithfulness of Gâ—engaged by the particular promises so aâ— Faith justifieth a Sinner by trusting in 〈◊〉 Grace and Mercy of God through Jeâ— Christ expressed in the general Promise of 〈◊〉 Gospel He that believeth shall be saved 〈◊〉 the like We do not contend about the aâ— ception of faith in this proposition We aâ—â— justified by saith whether it be taken objectively only as some think i. e. we are justified by Christ believed on or relatively 〈◊〉 are justified by faith as apprehending the mercy of God promised through Christ and 〈◊〉 by any works of our own it cometh all one at last The Mercy of God is the câ—â—sa proegomena the moving cause of our Justification the righteonsness of Christ wrought for us the meritorious cause procuring our acceptance with God and also the material or formal cause being the very thing for which God accepts us to life The Promise in the Gospel is the external moral or legal means whereby God conveys Justification and this Righteousness having promised 〈◊〉 to them that believe and faith is an internal means on mans part to apply Christ's Righteousness for his Justification by trusting him promising of it and that partly natural is faith is an act or habit or act properly conversant about a promise and partly moâ—al as God hath appointed our faith in the promise of Justification to be a means of obtaining it and this is all that Divines mean by saying Faith justifys as an instrument or intrumentally and when they call it the mouth and the hand of the soul viz. That Man is Justified by the Righteousness of Christ which Justification is proposed and promised in the Gospel to all that will accept it and trust in it which is believing so that Faith it self is â—ot the matter or righteousness which doth Justifie us under the Gospel instead of our Obedience under the Law but it is the means whereby through the Promise of the Gospel Christs Righteousness is imputed or applied to us by and for which we are justified Object It is no better than a cavil which is objected If Faith justifys as an instrument whose instrument is it Gods or Mans if Mans then he justifys himself if Gods then Man doth nothing in the business of Justification which is Antinomian For Answ The like may be asked of all instruments Natural or Moral Our Food whose instrument is it to nourish us If Gods then we need not eat if ours then we nourish our selves The Word and Sacraments are instruments of grace if they are our instruments then we work grace in our selves iâ— Gods then we need do nothing all these and the like are instruments of Gods appointing to be used by us to the right use of which he hath promised a blessing he hath commanded us to take food and
Obedience their distinct Offices Argument 2. They argue That God is not to be considered as a Creditor in the business of Justification but as a Rector or Governour dealing with Sinners Gr. Prop. p. 86. not as with Debtors but as with rebellious Subjects who are to be forgiven and reclaimed by Laws and by granting them Terms and Conditions of Pardon and reconciliation Mr. Trueman Answ The Scripture setteth out God under the notion of a Creditour and pardon by forgiving of debts Mat. 18.23 27. c. and such a one as doth not release part only and requiring a third or fourth of the Debt but as one that forgives all even to ten thousand Talents and we are taught daily to pray Forgive us our Debts as we forgive our Debtors and yet we acknowledge That God in justifying dealeth with men as a Rector or Governor To Pardon is an act of Government yea of Sovereignity none but a Sovereign can forgive the breach of his own Laws and restore offenders to favour God as as a Supream Legislator and Rector thought of a way to save sinners appointed his Son to die for them accepted his satisfaction when it was made promiseth pardon to them that fly to his mercy and mercifully forgiveth them that trust in it and justly acquitteth and dischargeth them for the Righteousness of his Son and when they are justified and made his Children he doth eternally govern them by his Laws of Obedience all these are the acts of a Rector therefore on this account there is no need that they should be justifyed by Conditions of New Obedience Argument 3. They argue From the comparison of Mens forgiveness which is always upon conditions of amendment either expressed or implied When a Prince Proclaims Pardon to Rebels it is either exprest or implied that they lay down their Arms and return to their obedience and continue in it In like manner they think God cannot pardon men but upon Conditions of Repentance and obedience for the remainder of their lives Answ If a man should receive and accept satisfaction from another in the behalf of an offendor and then impose conditions upon him for his Pardon or Reconciliation he would certainly be unjust and this is our case towards God he hath accepted a Ransom and Atonement in the Bloud of his Son and forgiveth men for and in respect to that and therefore requireth no conditions of them for their reconciliation but that they accept of a trust in the mercy promised in his Son There is another great difference betwixt God and Man in the matter of forgiveness 2dly Man cannot make the Offendor obedient for the future nor can be sure he will be obedient and therefore he makes conditions with him and obligeth him by hope of impunity and fear of punishment if he offend again but God can and doth intend when he pardoneth man to give him a heart to love and obey him to the end and therefore needs not make this a condition of their pardon Besides the greatest Princes have not such absolue Power of pardon in the breach of their own Laws as God hath of his nor can they repair the dishonour done to themselves and their Law as God can partly in magnisying his grace and partly in the inestimable value of his Sons bloud by which all the dishonour done to him by Man is abundantly repaired But Mr. Baxter hath handled this question in a set Disputation to which he refers us 4 Disp of Justedisp 1 where he give us 10 Arguments to prove this Thesis p. 13. We are justifyed by God by our believing in Christ as Teacher and Lord and not only by believing in his Bloud or Righteousness which I shall briefly consider so far as they tend to prove Obedience to be the condition of our Justification which is the main drift of them though not as they mediately respect the terms of his Thesis which I have before proved out of this same disputation to be oequivocal and improper For by this Doctrine we are justifyed only by obeying the Gospel of Christ which consisteth of his Precepts Promises and Threatnings which all proceed from him as a King not as a Priest or Prophet i. e. therefore we are justifyed by believing in him as King only not as a Priest or Prophet unless accidentally and remotely as he confesseth p. 25. The Argument follows Argument 1. From the confession of those that we dispute with p. 13. If it be granted that believing in Jesus Christ as Lord and Teacher is a real part of the condition of our Justification then it is granted that by this believing in him we are justifyed as by a condition but the former is true therefore the latter Answ If he had quoted any Authors we might the better have judged of the truth of the Antecedent all that looks like a proof is p. 14. 3dly They expresly make it antecedent to our Justification as of Moral necessity ex constitutione promittentis and say it is the Fides quae justificat All the meaning whereof is that as the Gospel revealeth Christ who dyed for us to be a King and Teacher of his People so in order to our coming to him to be saved by him we must acknowledge or believe this Doctrine that he died for our sins and is to teach us and rule us that he may save us But 1. It is not necessary to Justification that persons should have a distinct knowledge of the Offices of Christ but 't is sufficient that they seek Pardon and Salvation only through him This Faith saved them before Christ's coming though without any distinct knowledge of his Person and under the Gospel many ignorant persons and weak capacities yet true Christians scarce ever have a more distinct knowledge of their Saviour in whom they trust much less have they it before Justification 2ly If believing in Christ as Lord and Teacher mean as it ought in this Argument a purpose or promise of Obedience to Christ it is no part or act of justifying Faith not of the faith quae justificat but an effect wrought by it and if any of our Divines say it is they speak popularly not logically and are popularly to be understood viz. that justifying Faith is always conjoyned with a purpose of obedience 3ly If believing in Christ as Lord and Teacher as well as in his bloud be taken for trusting in Christ to be taught sanctified and ruled by him to eternal life as well as to have our sins forgiven this we grant to be justifying Faith Faith quae justificat but these are several acts of Faith and they have their several particular objects and their order and do not all go before Justification but a sinner first looks to Christ to satisfy the Law to reconcile him to God to deliver him from wrath and when the Promise of this is revealed to him he trusteth in it and hereby is accepted and reconciled his