23 24. 2. We suppose herein a sincere Assent unto all Divine Revelations whereof the Promises of Grace and Mercy by Christ are an especial part This Paul supposed in Agrippa when he would have won him over unto Faith in Christ Jesus King Agrippa believest thou the Prophets I know that thou believest Act. 26.27 And this Assent which respects the Promises of the Gospel not as they contain propose and exhibit the Lord Christ and the Benefits of his Mediation unto us but as Divine Revelations of infallible Truth is true and sincere in its kind as we described it before under the notion of Temporary Faith But as it proceeds no farther as it includes no Act of the Will or Heart it is not that Faiâ—h whereby we are Justified However it is required thereunto and is included therein 3. The proposal of the Gospel according unto the Mind of God is hereunto supposed That is that it be preached according unto Gods Appointment For not only the Gospel it self but the Dispensation or Preaching of it in the Ministry of the Church is ordinarily required unto Believing This the Apostle asserts and proves the necessity of it at large Rom. 10.11 12 13 14 15 16 17. Herein the Lord Christ and his Mediation with God the only way and means for the Justification and Salvation of lost convinced sinners as the product and effect of Divine Wisdom Love Grace and Righteousness is revealed declared proposed and offered unto such sinners For therein is the Righteousness of God revealed from Faith unto Faith Rom. 1.17 The Glory of God is represented as in a Glass 2 Cor. 3.18 and Life and Immortality are brought to Light through the Gospel 2 Tim. 1.10 Heb. 2.3 Wherefore 4. The Persons who are required to believe and whose immediate Duty it is so to do are such who really in their own Consciences are brought unto and do make the Enquiries mentioned in the Scripture What shall we do What shall we do to be saved How shall we fly from the wrath to come Wherewithall shall we appear before God How shall we answer what is laid unto our Charge Or such as being sensible of the Guilt of sin do seek for a Righteousness in the sight of God Act. 2.38 Act. 16.30 31. Micah 6.6 7. Isa. 35.4 Heb. 6.18 On these suppositions the Command and Direction given unto men being Believe and you shall be saved the Enquiry is what is that Act or Work of Faith whereby the may obtain a real interest or propriety in the Promises of the Gospel and the things declared in them unto their Justification before God And 1. It is evident from what hath been discoursed that it doth not consist in that it is not to be fully expressed by any one single habit or Act of the Mind or Will distinctly whatever For there are such Descriptions given of it in the Scripture such things are proposed as the Object of it and such is the Experience of all that sincerely believe as no one single Act either of the Mind or Will can answer unto Nor can an exact method of those Acts of the Soul which are concurrent therein be prescribed Only what is Essential unto it is manifest 2. That which in order of Nature seems to have the precedency is the Assent of the Mind unto that which the Psalmist betakes himself unto in the first place for relief under a sense of sin and trouble Psal. 130.3 4. If thou Lord shouldst mark Iniquity O Lord who shall stand The Sentence of the Law and Judgment of Conscience lye against him as unto any Acceptation with God Therefore he despairs in himself of standing in Judgment or being acquitted before him In this state that which the Soul first fixeth on as unto its relief is that there is forgiveness with God This as declared in the Gospel is that God in his Love and Grace will pardon and justifie guilty sinners through the blood and Mediation of Christ So it is proposed Rom. 3.23 24. The Assent of the Mind hereunto as proposed in the Promise of the Gospel is the root of Faith the foundation of all that the Soul doth in believing Nor is there any Evangelical Faith without it But yet consider it abstractedly as a meer Act of the Mind the Essence and Nature of Justifying Faith doth not consist solely therein though it cannot be without it But 2. This is accompanied in sincere Believing with an Approbation of the way of Deliverance and Salvation proposed as an effect of Divine Grace Wisdom and Love whereon the Heart doth rest in it and apply it self unto it according to the Mind of God This is that Faith whereby we are justified which I shall farther evince by shewing what is included in it and inseparable from it 1. It includeth in it a sincere Renunciation of all other ways and means for the attaining of Righteousness Life and Salvation This is Essential unto Faith Act. 4.12 Hos. 14.2 3. Jerem. 3.23 Psal. 71.16 I will make mention of thy Righteousness of thine only When a person is in the condition before described and such alone are called immediately to believe Math. 9.13 chap. 11.28 1 Tim. 1.15 many things will present themselves unto him for his relief particularly his own Righteousness Rom. 10.3 A Renunciation of them all as unto any hope or expectation of Relief from them belongs unto sincere Believing Isa. 50.10 11. 2. There is in it the Wills consent whereby the Soul betakes it self cordially and sincerely as unto all its expectation of pardon of sin and Righteousness before God unto the way of Salvation proposed in the Gospel This is that which is called coming unto Christ and receiving of him whereby true Justifying Faith is so often expressed in the Scripture or as it is peculiarly called believing in him or believing on his name The whole is expressed Joh. 14.6 Jesus saith unto him I am the Way the Truth and the Life no Man cometh unto the Father but by me 3. An Acquiescency of the Heart in God as the Author and principal Cause of the way of Salvation prepared as acting in a way of Soveraign Grace and Mercy towards sinners Who by him do believe in God who raised him up from the dead and gave him Glory that your faith and hope might be in God 1 Pet. 1.21 The Heart of a sinner doth herein give unto God the Glory of all those holy properties of his Nature which he designed to manifest in and by Jesus Christ. See Isa. 42.1 chap. 49.3 And this Acquiescency of the Heart in God is that which is the immediate root of that waiting patience long-suffering and hope which are the proper Acts and Effects of Justifying Faith Heb. 6.12 15 18 19. 4. Trust in God or the Grace and Mercy of God in and through the Lord Christ as set forth to be a propitiation through Faith in his Blood doth belong hereunto or necessarily ensue hereon For the person called
and unsuited unto the Genius of the present Age. For they all of them arise from or lead unto the want of a due sence of the Nature and Guilt of sin as also of the Holiness and Righteousness of God with respect thereunto And when such principles as these do once grow prevalent in the minds of men they quickly grow careless negligent secure in sinning and End for the most part in Atheism or a great Indifferency as unto all Religion and all the Duties thereof CHAP. I. Justifying Faith the Causes Object and Nature of it declared THe means of Justification on our part is Faith That we are justified by Faith is so frequently and so expresly affirmed in the Scripture as that it cannot directly and in terms by any be denied For whereas some begin by an excess of partiality which controversial Engagements and Provocations do encline them unto to affirm that our Justification is more frequently ascribed unto other things Graces or Duties than unto Faith it is to be passed by in silence and not contended about But yet also the Explanation which some others make of this general concession That we are justified by Faith doth as fully overthrow what is affirmed therein as if it were in terms rejected And it would more advantage the understandings of men if it were plainly refused upon its first proposal than to be lead about in a maze of Words and Distinctions unto its real Exclusion as is done both by the Romanists and Socinians At present we may take the Proposition as granted and only enquire into the true genuine sense and meaning of it That which first occurs unto our Consideration is Faith and that which doth concern it may be reduced unto two Heads 1 Its Nature 2 Its Vse in our Justification Of the Nature of Faith in general of the especial Nature of justifying Faith of its Characteristical Distinctions from that which is called Faith but is not justifying so many Discourses divers of them the effects of sound Judgment and good Experience are already extant as it is altogether needless to engage at large into a farther discussion of them However something must be spoken to declare in what sense we understand these things what is that Faith which we ascribe our Justification unto and what is its Vse therein The Distinctions that are usually made concerning Faith as it is a word of various significations I shall wholly pretermit not only as obvious and known but as not belonging unto our present Argument That which we are concerned in is That in the Scripture there is mention made plainly of a twofold Faith whereby men believe the Gospel For there is a Faith whereby we are justified which he who hath shall be assuredly saved which purifieth the heart and worketh by Love And there is a Faith or Believing which doth nothing of all this which who hath and hath no more is not justified nor can be saved Wherefore every Faith whereby men are said to believe is not justifying Thus it is said of Simon the Magician that he believed Act. 8.13 When he was in the Gall of Bitterness and bond of Iniquity and therefore did not believe with that Faith which purifieth the Heart Act. 15.9 And that many believed on the name of Jesus when they saw the Miracles that he did but Jesus did not commit himself unto them because he knew what was in man Joh. 2.23 24. They did not believe on his Name as those do or with that kind of Faith who thereon receive power to become the Sons of God Joh. 1.12 And some when they hear the Word receive it with joy believing for a while but have no Root Luke 8.13 And Faith without a Root in the Heart will not justifie any For with the Heart Men believe unto Righteousness Rom. 10.10 So is it with them who shall cry Lord Lord at the last day we have prophesied in thy name whilst yet they were always workers of Iniquity Math. 7.22 23. This Faith is usually called Historical Faith But this Denomination is not taken from the Object of it as though it were only the History of the Scripture or the Historical things contained in it For it respects the whole Truth of the Word yea of the Promises of the Gospel as well as other things But it is so called from the nature of the Assent wherein it doth consist For it is such as we give unto Historical things that are credibly testified unto us And this Faith hath divers differences or degrees both in respect unto the Grounds or Reasons of it and also its Effects For as unto the first all Faith is an Assent upon Testimony and divine Faith is an Assent upon a divine Testimony According as this Testimony is received so are the Differences or Degrees of this Faith Some apprehend it on humane motives only and their credibility unto the Judgment of Reason and their Assent is a meer natural Act of their Understanding which is the lowest degree of this Historical Faith Some have their minds enabled unto it by spiritual Illumination making a discovery of the Evidences of Divine Truth whereon it is to be believed the Assent they give hereon is more firm and operative than that of the former sort Again It hath its Differences or Degrees with respect unto its Effects With some it doth no way or very little influence the Will or the Affections or work any Change in the lives of men So is it with them that profess they believe the Gospel and yet live in all manner of sins In this Degree it is called by the Apostle James a dead Faith and compared unto a dead Carkass without life or motion and is an Assent of the very same nature and kind with that which Devils are compelled to give And this Faith abounds in the World With others it hath an effectual work upon the Affections and that in many degrees also represented in the several sorts of Ground whereinto the Seed of the Word is cast and produceth many effects in their lives In the utmost improvement of it both as to the Evidence it proceeds from and the Effects it produceth it is usually called temporary Faith for it is neither permanent against all oppositions nor will bring any unto Eternal Rest. The name is taken from that Expression of our Saviour concerning him who believeth with this Faith 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Math. 13.21 This Faith I grant to be true in its kind and not meerly to be equivocally so called it is not 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 It is so as unto the general nature of Faith but of the same special nature with justifying Faith it is not Justifying Faith is not an higher or the highest degree of this Faith but is of another kind or nature Wherefore sundry things may be observed concerning this Faith in the utmost improvement of it unto our present purpose As 1. This Faith with all the effects of it men
there is no Relief or Deliverance to be expected from any of those ways of sorrow or duty that he hath put himself upon 3 In this condition it is a meer Act of Soveraign Grace without any respect unto these things foregoing to call the sinner unto Believing or Faith in the Promise unto the Justification of Life This is Gods order yet so as that what precedeth his call unto Faith hath no causality thereof 3. The next thing to be enquired into is the proper Object of Justifying Faith or of true Faith in its office work and duty with respect unto our Justification And herein we must first consider what we cannot so well close withall For besides other Differences that seem to be about it which indeed are but different Explanations of the same thing for the substance there are two Opinions which are looked on as Extreams the one in an Excess and the other in Defect The first is that of the Roman Church and those who comply with them therein And this is That the Object of Justifying Faith as such is all Divine Verity all Divine Revelation whether written in the Scripture or delivered by Tradition represented unto us by the Authority of the Church In the latter part of this Description we are not at present concerned That the whole Scripture and all the parts of it and all the Truths of what sort soever they be that are contained in it are equally the Object of Faith in the discharge of its Office in our Justification is that which they maintain Hence as to the nature of it they cannot allow it to consist in any thing but an Assent of the mind For supposing the whole Scripture and all contained in it Laws Precepts Promises Threatnings Stories Prophesies and the like to be the Object of it and these not as containing in them things Good or Evil unto us but under this formal consideration as divinely revealed they cannot assign or allow any other Act of the mind to be required hereunto but Assent only And so confident are they herein namely That Faith is no more then an Assent unto divine Revelation as that Bellarmin in opposition unto Calvin who placed knowledge in the description of Justifying Faith affirms that it is better defined by Ignorance than by Knowledge This Description of Justifying Faith and its Object hath been so discussed and on such evident Grounds of Scripture and Reason rejected by Protestant Writers of all sorts as that it is needless to insist much upon it again Some things I shall observe in relation unto it whereby we may discover what is of Truth in what they assert and wherein it falls short thereof Neither shall I respect only them of the Roman Church who require no more to Faith or Believing but only a bare Assent of the mind unto divine Revelations but them also who place it wholly in such a firm Assent as produceth Obedience unto all divine Commands For as it doth both these as both these are included in it so unto the especial nature of it more is required It is as justifying neither a meer Assent nor any such firm degree of it as should produce such effects 1. All Faith whatever is an Act of that power of our Souls in general whereby we are able firmly to assent unto the Truth upon Testimony in things not evident unto us by Sense or Reason It is the Evidence of things not seen And all divine Faith is in general an Assent unto the Truth that is proposed unto us upon divine Testimony And hereby as it is commonly agreed it is distinguished from Opinion and moral certainty on the one hand and Science or Demonstration on the other 2. Wherefore in Justifying Faith there is an Assent unto all divine Revelation upon the Testimony of God the Revealer By no other Act of our mind wherein this is not included or supposed can we be justified not because it is not justifying but because it is not Faith This Assent I say is included in Justifying Faith And therefore we find it often spoken of in the Scripture the Instances whereof are gathered up by Bellarmin and others with respect unto other things and not restrained unto the especial promise of Grace in Christ which is that which they oppose But besides that in most places of that kind the proper Object of Faith as Justifying is included and referred ultimately unto though diversly expressed by some of its Causes or concomitant Adjuncts it is granted that we believe all divine Truth with that very Faith whereby we are justified so as that other things may well be ascribed unto it 3. On these Concessions we yet say two things 1 That the whole nature of Justifying Faith doth not consist meerly in an Assent of the mind be it never so firm and stedfast nor whatever Effects of Obedience it may produce 2 That in its Duty and Office in Justification whence it hath that especial denomination which alone we are in the Explanation of it doth not equally respect all divine Revelation as such but hath a peculiar Object proposed unto it in the Scripture And whereas both these will be immediately evinced in our description of the proper Object and Nature of Faith I shall at present oppose some few things unto this Description of them sufficient to manifest how aliene it is from the Truth 1. This Assent is an Act of the understanding only An Act of the mind with respect unto Truth evidenced unto it be it of what nature it will So we believe the worst of things and the most grievous unto us as well as the best and the most useful But Believing is an Act of the Heart which in the Scripture comprizeth all the Faculties of the Soul as one entire principle of moral and spiritual Duties With the Heart Man believeth unto Righteousness Rom. 10.10 And it is frequently described by an Act of the Will though it be not so alone But without an Act of the Will no man can believe as he ought See Joh. 5.40 Joh. 1.12 chap. 6.35 We come to Christ in an Act of the Will and let whosoever will come And to be willing is taken for to believe Psal. 110.3 and Unbelief is Disobedience Heb. 3.18 19. 2. All Divine Truth is equally the Object of this Assent It respects not the especial nature or use of any one Truth be it of what kind it will more than another nor can it do so since it regards only Divine Revelation Hence that Judas was the Traytor must have as great an influence into our Justification as that Christ died for our sins But how contrary this is unto the Scripture the Analogy of Faith and the Experience of all that believe needs neither Declaration nor Confirmation 3. This Assent unto all Divine Revelation may be true and sincere where there hath been no previous work of the Law nor any Conviction of sin No such thing is required thereunto nor are
way of handling sacred things But the Spiritual Amplitude of Divine Truths is restrained hereby whilst low mean Philosophical senses are imposed on them And not only so but endless Divisions and Contentions are occasioned and perpetuated Hence when any Difference in Religion is in the pursuit of Controversies about it brought into the field of Metaphysical Respects and Philosophical terms whereof there is 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 sufficient provision for the supply of the Combatants on both sides the truth for the most part as unto any concernment of the souls of men therein is utterly lost and buried in the rubbish of senseless and unprofitable words And thus in particular those who seem to be well enough agreed in the whole Doctrine of Justification so far as the Scripture goeth before them and the Experience of Believers keeps them company when once they ingage into their Philosophical Definitions and Distinctions are at such an irreconcilable variance among themselves as if they were agreed on no one thing that doth concern it For as men have various apprehensions in coining such Definitions as may be defensible against Objections which most men aim at therein So no Proposition can be so plain at least in materia probabili but that a man ordinarily versed in Paedagogical Terms and Metaphysical Notions may multiply Distinctions on every word of it 8. Hence there hath been a pretence and appearance of twenty several Opinions among Protestants about Justification as Bellarmine and Vasquez and others of the Papists charge it against them out of Osiander when the Faith of them all was one and the same Bellar. lib. 5. cap. 1. Vasq. in 1.2 Quaest. 113. disp 202. whereof we shall speak elsewhere When men are once advanced into that field of Disputation which is all overgrown with thorns of subtilties perplexed notions and futilous terms of Art they consider principally how they may entangle others in it scarce at all how they may get out of it themselves And in this posture they oftentimes utterly forget the business which they are about especially in this matter of Justification namely how a guilty Sinner may come to obtain Favour and Acceptance with God And not only so but I doubt they oftentimes dispute themselves beyond what they can well abide by when they return home unto a sedate meditation of the state of things between God and their own souls And I cannot much value their notions and sentiments of this matter who object and answer themselves out of a sense of their own Appearance before God much less of theirs who evidence an open inconformity unto the Grace and truth of this Doctrine in their hearts and lives 9. Wherefore we do but trouble the faith of Christians and the peace of the true Church of God whilst we dispute about Expressions Terms and Notions when the substance of the Doctrine intended may be declared and believed without the knowledge understanding or use of any of them Such are all those in whose subtile management the captious Art of wrangling doth principally consist A diligent Attendance unto the Revelation made hereof in the Scripture and an examination of our own experience thereby is the Sum of what is required of us for the right understanding of the truth herein And every true Believer who is taught of God knows how to put his whole trust in Christ alone and the Grace of God by him for Mercy Righteousness and Glory and not at all concern himself with those loads of thorns and briars which under the names of Definitions Distinctions accurate Notions in a number of Exotick Paedagogical and Philosophical terms some pretend to accommodate them withall 10. The Holy Ghost in expressing the most eminent Acts in our Justification especially as unto our Believing or the acting of that faith whereby we are justified is pleased to make use of many Metaphorical Expressions For any to use them now in the same way and to the same purpose is esteemed rude undisciplinary and even ridiculous but on what Grounds He that shall deny that there is more spiritual sense and experience conveyed by them into the hearts and minds of Believers which is the life and soul of teaching things practical than in the most accurate Philosophical expressions is himself really ignorant of the whole Truth in this matter The Propriety of such Expressions belongs and is confined unto natural science but spiritual Truths are to be taught not in the words which mans wisdom teacheth but which the Holy Ghost teacheth comparing spiritual things with spiritual God is wiser then man and the Holy Ghost knows better what are the most expedient ways for the Illumination of our minds with that knowledge of Evangelical Truths which it is our Duty to have and attain then the wisest of us all And other knowledge of or skill in these things then what is required of us in a way of Duty is not to be valued It is therefore to no purpose to handle the mysteries of the Gospel as if Holcot and Bricot Thomas and Gabriel with all the Sententiarists Summists and Quodlibetarians of the old Roman Peripatetical School were to be raked out of their Graves to be our guides Especially will they be of no use unto us in this Doctrine of Justification For whereas they pertinaciously adhered unto the Philosophy of Aristotle who knew nothing of any Righteousness but what is an habit inherent in our selves and the Acts of it they wrested the whole Doctrine of Justification unto a compliance therewithall So Pighius himself complained of them Controv. 2. Dissimulare non possumus hanc vel primam doctrinae Christianae partem de Justificatione obscuratam magis quam illustratam a scholasticis spinosis plerisque quaestionibus definitionibus secundum quas nonnulli magno supercilio primam in omnibus autoritatem arrogantes c. Secondly A due consideration of him with whom in this matter we have to do and that immediately is necessary unto a right stating of our thoughts about it The Scripture expresseth it emphatically that it is God that justifieth Rom. 8. 33. And he assumes it unto himself as his Prerogative to do what belongs thereunto I even I am he that blotteth out thy transgressions for mine own sake and will not remember thy sins Isa. 43.25 And it is hard in my Apprehension to suggest unto him any other reason or consideration of the pardon of our sins seeing he hath taken it on him to do it for his own sake that is for the Lords sake Dan. 9.17 in whom all the seed of Israel are justified Isa. 45.25 In his sight before his Tribunal it is that men are justified or condemned Psal. 143.2 Enter not into Judgement with thy servant for in THY SIGHT shall no man living be justified And the whole work of Justification with all that belongeth thereunto is represented after the manner of a Juridical proceeding before Gods Tribunal as we shall see afterwards Therefore saith the Apostle
him So he saith him who knew not sin he made to be sin for us that is an expiatory Sacrifice for sin that we might be made the Righteousness of God in him we are made Righteous in Christ not with our own but with the Righteousness of God By what Right the Right of friendship which makes all common among friends according unto the ancient celebrated proverb Being ingrafted into Christ fastened united unto him he makes his things ours communicates his Riches unto us interposeth his Righteousness between the Judgment of God and our unrighteousness and under that as under a shield and buckler he hides us from that divine wrath which we have deserved he defends and protects us therewith yea he communicates it unto us and makes it ours so as that being covered and adorned therewith we may boldly and securely place our selves before the divine Tribunal and Judgment so as not only to appear Righteous but so to be For even as the Apostle affirmeth that by one mans fault we were all made sinners so is the Righteousness of Christ alone efficacious in the Justification of us all and as by the disobedience of one man many were made sinners so by the Obedience of one man saith he many are made Righteous This is the Righteousness of Christ even his Obedience whereby in all things he fulfilled the Will of his Father As on the other hand our unrighteousness is our disobedience and our transgression of the Commands of God But that our Righteousness is placed in the Obedience of Christ it is from hence that we being incorporated into him it is accounted unto us as if it were ours so as that therewith we are esteemed Righteous And as Jacob of old whereas he was not the first born being hid under the habit of his Brother and cloathed with his Garment which breathed a sweet savour presented himself unto his Father that in the person of another he might receive the Blessing of the Primogeniture so is it necessary that we should lye hid under the precious purity of the first born our eldest Brother be fragrant with his sweet savour and have our sin buried and covered with his perfection that we may present our selves before our most Holy Father to obtain from him the Blessing of Righteousness And again God therefore doth justifie us by his free Grace or Goodness wherewith he embraceth us in Christ Jesus when he cloatheth us with his Innocency and Righteousness as we are ingrafted into him for as that alone is true and perfect which only can endure in the sight of God so that alone ought to be presented and pleaded for us before the divine Tribunal as the advocate of or plea in our cause resting hereon we here obtain the daily pardon of sin with whose purity being covered our filth and the uncleanness of our imperfections are not imputed unto us but are covered as if they were buried that they may not come into the Jugdment of God until the old man being destroyed and slain in us divine Goodness receives us into peace with the second Adam So far he expressing the power which the influence of divine truth had on his mind contrary to the Interest of the cause wherein he was ingaged and the loss of his Reputation with them for whom in all other things he was one of the fiercest Champions And some among the Roman Church who cannot bear this Assertion of the Commutation of Sin and Righteousness by Imputation between Christ and Believers no more then some among our selves do yet affirm the same concerning the Righteousness of other men Mercaturam quandam docere nos Paulus videtur Abundatis inquit vos pecunia estis inopes justitiae contra illi abundant justitia sunt inopes pecuniae fiat quaedam commutatio date vos piis egentibus pecuniam quae vobis affluit illis deficit sic futurum est ut illi vicissim justitiam suam qua abundant qua vos estis destituti vobis communicent Hosius de expresso Dei verbo Tom. 2. pag. 21. But I have mentioned these Testimonies principally to be a Relief unto some mens Ignorance who are ready to speak evil of what they understand not This blessed Permutation as unto Sin and Righteousness is represented unto us in the Scripture as a principal object of our Faith as that whereon our Peace with God is founded And although both these the Imputation of Sin unto Christ and the Imputation of Righteousness unto us be the Acts of God and not ours yet are we by Faith to exemplifie them in our own Souls and really to perform what on our part is required unto their Application unto us whereby we receive the Attonement Rom. 5.11 Christ calls unto him all those that are weary and heavy laden Mat. 11.28 The weight that is upon the Consciences of men wherewith they are laden is the burden of sin So the Psalmist complains that his sins were a burden too heavy for him Psal. 38.4 Such was Cains apprehension of his Guilt Gen. 4.13 This Burden Christ bare when it was laid on him by divine Estimation For so it is said 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Isa. 53.11 He shall bear their sins on him as a burden And this he did when God made to meet upon him the Iniquity of us all ver 6. In the Application of this unto our own Souls as it is required that we be sensible of the weight and burden of our sins and how it is heavier then we can bear so the Lord Christ calls us unto him with it that we may be eased This he doth in the preaching of the Gospel wherein he is evidently Crucified before our Eyes Gal. 3.1 In the view which Faith hath of Christ crucified for Faith is a looking unto him Isa. 45.22 chap. 65.1 answering their looking unto the Brazen Serpent who were stung with fiery Serpents Joh. 3.14 15. and under a sense of his Invitation for Faith is our coming unto him upon his call and invitation to come unto him with our Burdens a Believer considereth that God hath laid all our Iniquities upon him yea that he hath done so is an especial object whereon Faith is to act it self which is Faith in his Blood Hereon doth the Soul approve of and embrace the Righteousness and Grace of God with the infinite condescension and love of Christ himself It gives its consent that what is thus done is what becomes the infinite Wisdom and Grace of God and therein it rests Such a Person seeks no more to establish his own Righteousness but submits to the Righteousness of God Herein by Faith doth he leave that Burden on Christ which he called him to bring with him and complies with the Wisdom and Righteousness of God in laying it upon him And herewithall doth he receive the everlasting Righteousness which the Lord Christ brought in when he made an end of sin and Reconciliation for Transgressors The Reader may be
non pugnare concludendum est sed potius quia haec inter se pugnant ideo alterutrum a Scriptura non dici statuendum est saith Schlicting ad Meisn. def Socin pag. 102. Wherefore because the Scripture affirms both these that is the Efficacy of Gods Grace and the Freedom of our Wills we cannot conclude from thence that they are not repugnant but because these things are repugnant unto one another we must determine that one of them is not spoken in the Scripture no it seems let it say what it will This is the hansomest way they can take in advancing their own Reason above the Scripture which yet savours of intolerable Presumption So Socinus himself speaking of the satisfaction of Christ saith in plain Terms Ego quidem etiamsi non semel sed saepius id in sacris monumentis scriptum extaret non idcirco tamen ita prorsus rem se habere crederem ut vos opinamini cum enim id omnino fieri non possit non secus atque in multis aliis Scripturae Testimoniis una cum caeteris omnibus facio aliqua quae minus incommoda videretur interpretatione adhibita eum sensum ex ejusmodi verbis elicerem qui sibi constaret For my part if this Doctrine were extant and written in the Holy Scripture not once but often yet would I not therefore believe it to be so as you do For whereas it can by no means be so whatever the Scripture saith I would as I do with others in other places make use of some less incommodious Interpretation whereby I would draw a sense out of the words that should be consistent with it self And how he would do this he declares a little before Sacra verba in alium sensum quam verba sonant per inusitatos etiam Tropos quandoque explicantur He would explain the words into another sense then what they sound or propose by unusual Tropes And indeed such uncouth Tropes doth he apply as so many Engines and Machines to pervert all the Divine Testimonies concerning our Redemption Reconciliation and Justification by the Blood of Christ. Having therefore fixed this as their Rule constantly to prefer their own Reason above the express words of the Scripture which must therefore by one means or other be so perverted or wrested to be made compliant therewith it is Endless to trace them in their multiplied Objections against the holy mysteries all resolved into this one principle that their Reason cannot comprehend them nor doth approve of them And if any man would have an especial Instance of the serpentine Wits of men winding themselves from under the power of Conviction by the spiritual Light of Truth or at least endeavouring so to do let him read the Comments of the Jewish Rabbins on Isaiah chap. 53. and of the Socinians on the Beginning of the Gospel of John Secondly The second Branch of this Repugnancy springeth from the want of a due comprehension of that Harmony which is in the mystery of Grace and between all the parts of it This comprehension is the principal effect of that Wisdom which Believers are taught by the Holy Ghost For our understanding of the Wisdom of God in a mystery is neither an Art nor a Science whether purely speculative or more practical but a spiritual Wisdom And this spiritual Wisdom is such as understands and apprehends things not so much or not only in the notion of them as in their Power Reality and Efficacy towards their proper Ends. And therefore although it may be very few unless they be learned judicious and diligent in the use of means of all sorts do attain unto it clearly and distinctly in the Doctrinal notions of it yet are all true Believers yea the meanest of them directed and enabled by the Holy Spirit as unto their own practice and duty to act suitably unto a comprehension of this Harmony according to the Promise that they shall be all taught of God Hence those things which appear unto others contradictory and inconsistent one with another so as that they are forced to offer violence unto the Scripture and their own Experience in the Rejection of the one or other of them are reconciled in their minds and made mutually useful or helpful unto one another in the whole course of their Obedience But these things must be farther spoken unto Such an Harmony as that intended there is in the whole mystery of God For it is the most curious effect and product of divine Wisdom And it is no impeachment of the Truth of it that it is not discernable by humane Reason A full comprehension of it no creature can in this world arise unto Only in the contemplation of Faith we may arrive unto such an understanding Admiration of it as shall enable us to give Glory unto God and to make use of all the parts of it in practice as we have occasion Concerning it the Holy man mentioned before cryed out 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 O unsearchable contrivance and operation And so is it expressed by the Apostle as that which hath an unfathomable depth of Wisdom in it 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 c. O the Depth of the Riches both of the Wisdom and Knowledge of God how unsearchable are his ways and his Judgments past finding out Rom. 11.33 34 35 36. see to the same purpose Eph. 3.8 9 10. There is an Harmony a suitableness of one thing unto another in all the works of Creation Yet we see that it is not perfectly nor absolutely discoverable unto the wisest and most diligent of men How far are they from an Agreement about the order and motions of the Heavenly Bodies of the Sympathies and Qualities of sundry things here below in the Relation of Causality and Efficiency between one thing and another The new discoveries made concerning any of them do only evidence how far men are from a just and perfect comprehension of them Yet such an universal Harmony there is in all the parts of nature and its operations that nothing in its proper station and operation is destructively contradictory either to the whole or any part of it but every thing contributes unto the preservation and use of the Universe But although this Harmony be not absolutely comprehensible by any yet do all living Creatures who follow the conduct or instinct of Nature make use of it and live upon it and without it neither their Being could be preserved nor their Operations continued But in the mystery of God and his Grace the Harmony and suitableness of one thing unto another with their tendency unto the same End is incomparably more excellent and glorious then that which is seen in nature or the works of it For whereas God made all things at first in Wisdom yet is the new Creation of all things by Jesus Christ ascribed peculiarly unto the Riches Stores and Treasures of that infinite wisdom Neither can any discern it unless they are taught of God for
it is only spiritually discerned But yet is it by the most despised Some seem to think that there is no great wisdom in it and some that no great wisdom is required unto the comprehension of it Few think it worth the while to spend half that time in prayer in meditation in the exercise of self denial Mortification and Holy Obedience doing the will of Christ that they may know of his word to the attaining of a due comprehension of the mystery of Godliness as some do of diligence study and trial of Experiments who design to excell in natural or mathematical Sciences Wherefore there are three things evident herein 1. That such an Harmony there is in all the parts of the mystery of God wherein all the blessed properties of the divine nature are glorified our Duty in all Instances is directed and engaged our Salvation in the way of Obedience secured and Christ as the End of all exalted Wherefore we are not only to consider and know the several parts of the Doctrine of spiritual Truth but their Relation also one unto another their consistency one with another in practice and their mutual furtherance of one another unto their common End And a disorder in our Apprehensions about any part of that whose Beauty and Use ariseth from its Harmony gives some confusion of mind with respect unto the whole 2. That unto a comprehension of this Harmony in a due measure it is necessary that we be taught of God without which we can never be wise in the knowledge of the mystery of his Grace And herein ought we to place the principal part of our diligence in our Enquiries into the Truths of the Gospel 3. All those who are taught of God to know his Will unless it be when their minds are disordered by prejudices false opinions or temptations have an experience in themselves and their own practical Obedience of the consistency of all parts of the mystery of Gods Grace and Truth in Christ among themselves of their spiritual Harmony and cogent tendency unto the same End The Introduction of the Grace of Christ into our Relation unto God makes no confusion or disorder in their minds by the conflict of the principles of natural Reason with respect unto our first Relation unto God and those of Grace with respect unto that whereunto we are renewed From the want of a due comprehension of this divine Harmony it is that the minds of men are filled with Imaginations of an Inconsistency between the most important parts of the mystery of the Gospel from whence the confusions that are at this day in Christian Religion do proceed Thus the Socinians can see no consistency between the Grace or Love of God and the satisfaction of Christ but imagine if the one of them be admitted the other must be excluded out of our Religion Wherefore they principally oppose the latter under a pretence of asserting and vindicating the former And where these things are expresly conjoined in the same proposition of Faith as where it is said that we are justified freely by the Grace of God through the Redemption that is in Christ Jesus whom God hath set forth to be a propitiation through Faith in his Blood as Rom. 3.24 25. they will offer violence unto common sense and Reason rather then not disturb that Harmony which they cannot understand For although it be plainly affirmed to be a Redemption by his Blood as he is a propitiation as his Blood was a Ransome or price of Redemption yet they will contend there it is only metaphorical a meer deliverance by power like that of the Israelites by Moses But these things are clearly stated in the Gospel and therefore not only consistent but such as that the one cannot subsist without the other Nor is there any mention of any especial Love or Grace of God unto sinners but with respect unto the satisfaction of Christ as the means of the communication of all their effects unto them See Joh. 3.16 Rom. 3.23 24 25. chap. 8.30 31 32 33. 2 Cor. 5.19 20 21. Ephes. 1.7 c. In like manner they can see no consistency between the satisfaction of Christ and the necessity of Holiness or Obedience in them that do believe Hence they continually clamour that by our Doctrine of the Mediation of Christ we overthrow all Obligations unto an Holy Life And by their Sophistical Reasonings unto this purpose they prevail with many to embrace their delusions who have not a spiritual experience to confront their Sophistry withall But as the Testimony of the Scripture lyeth expresly against them so those who truly believe and have real experience of the influence of that Truth into the life of God and how impossible it is to yield any acceptable Obedience herein without respect thereunto are secured from their snares These and the like Imaginations arise from the unwillingness of men to admit of the Introduction of the mystery of Grace into our Relation unto God For suppose us to stand before God on the old constitution of the Covenant of Creation which alone natural Reason likes and is comprehensive of and we do acknowledge these things to be inconsistent But the mystery of the Wisdom and Grace of God in Christ cannot stand without them both So likewise Gods Efficacious Grace in the conversion of sinners and the exercise of the Faculties of their Minds in a way of Duty are asserted as contradictory and inconsistent And although they seem both to be positively and frequently declared in the Scripture yet say these men their Consistency being repugnant to their Reason let the Scripture say what it will yet is it to be said by us that the Scripture doth not assert one of them And this is from the same cause men cannot in their Wisdom see it possible that the mystery of Gods Grace should be introduced into our Relation and Obedience unto God Hence have many Ages of the Church especially the last of them been filled with Endless Disputes in Opposition to the Grace of God or to accommodate the conceptions of it unto the Interests of corrupted Reason But there is no Instance more pregnant unto this purpose then that under our present consideration Free Justification through the Imputation of the Righteousness of Christ is cried out against as inconsistent with a necessity of personal Holiness and Obedience and because the Socinians insist principally on this pretence it shall be fully and diligently considered apart and that Holiness which without it they and others deriving from them do pretend unto shall be tried by the unerring Rule Wherefore I desire it may be observed that in pleading for this Doctrine we do it as a principal part of the Introduction of Grace into our whole Relation unto God Hence we grant 1. That it is unsuited yea foolish and as some speak Childish unto the principles of unenlightened and unsanctified Reason or Understandings of men And this we conceive to be
and Expressions as are so far from being in the Scripture as that it is odds they had never been in the world had they escaped Aristotles Mint or that of the Schools deriving from him And thus although a sufficient Answer hath frequently enough if any thing can be so been returned unto this Objection in Bellarmine yet hath one of late amongst our selves made the Translation of it into English to be the substance of the first Chapter of a Book about Justification though he needed not to have given such an early intimation unto whom he is beholding for the greatest part of his ensuing Discourse unless it be what is taken up in despightful reviling of other men For take from him what is not his own on the one hand and impertinent cavils at the words and expression of other men with forged imputations on some of them on the other and his whole Book will disappear But yet although he affirms that none of the Protestant Writers who speak of the Imputation of the Righteousness of Christ unto us which were all of them without exception until of late have precisely kept to the form of wholesome Words but have rather swerved and varied from the Language of the Scripture yet he will excuse them from open Errour if they intend no more thereby but that we are made partakers of the benefits of the Righteousness of Christ. But if they intend that the Righteousness of Christ it self is imputed unto us that is so as to be our Righteousness before God whereon we are pardoned and accepted with him or do receive the forgiveness of sins and a right to the Heavenly Inheritance then are they guilty of that Errour which makes us to be esteemed to do our selves what Christ did and so on the other side Christ to have done what we do and did chap. 2 3. But these things are not so For if we are esteemed to have done any thing in our own persons it cannot be imputed unto us as done for us by another as it will appear when we shall treat of these things afterwards But the great and Holy Persons intended are as little concerned in the Accusations or Apologies of some Writers as those Writers seem to be acquainted with that Learning Wisdom and Judgment wherein they did excell and the Characters whereof are so eminently conspicuous in all their Writings But the Judgement of most Protestants is not only candidly expressed but approved of also by Bellarmine himself in another place Non esset saith he absurdum si quis diceret nobis imputari Christi justitiam merita cum nobis donentur applicentur ac si nos ipsi Deo satisfecissemus De Justif. lib. 2. cap. 10. It were not absurd if any one should say that the Righteousness and Merits of Christ are imputed unto us when they are given and applied unto us as if we our selves had satisfied God And this he confirms with that saying of Bernard and Innocent Epist. 190. Nam si unus pro omnibus mortuus est ergo omnes mortui sunt ut videlicet satisfactio unius omnibus imputetur sicut omnium peccata unus ille portavit And those who will acknowledge no more in this matter but only a Participation Quovis modo one way or other of the Benefits of the Obedience and Righteousness of Christ wherein we have the concurrence of the Socinians also might do well as I suppose plainly to deny all Imputation of his Righteousness unto us in any sense as they do seeing the Benefits of his Righteousness cannot be said to be imputed unto us what way soever we are made Partakers of them For to say that the Righteousness of Christ is imputed unto us with respect unto the Benefits of it when neither the Righteousness it self is imputed unto us nor can the Benefits of it be imputed unto us as we shall see afterwards doth minister great occasion of much needless variance and contests Neither do I know any Reason why men should seek countenance unto this Doctrine under such an Expression as themselves reflect upon as unscriptural if they be contented that their minds and sense should be clearly understood and apprehended For Truth needs no subterfuges The Socinians do now principally make use of this Objection For finding the whole Church of God in the use of sundry Expressions in the Declaration of the most important Truths of the Gospel that are not literally contained in the Scripture they hoped from an Advantage from thence in their opposition unto the things themselves Such are the Terms of the Trinity the Incarnation Satisfaction and Merit of Christ as this also of the Imputation of his Righteousness How little they have prevailed in the other Instances hath been sufficiently manifested by them with whom they have had to do But as unto that part of this Objection which concerns the Imputation of the Righteousness of Christ unto Believers those by whom it is asserted do say 1. That it is the Thing alone intended which they plead for If that be not contained in the Scripture if it be not plainly taught and confirmed therein they will speedily relinquish it But if they can prove that the Doctrine which they intend in this expression and which is thereby plainly declared unto the understandings of men is a divine Truth sufficiently witnessed unto in the Scripture then is this expression of it reductively scriptural and the Truth it self so expressed a Divine Verity To deny this is to take away all use of the Interpretation of the Scripture and to overthrow the Ministry of the Church This therefore is to be alone enquired into 2. They say the same thing is taught and expressed in the Scripture in Phrases aequipollent For it affirms that by the Obedience of One that is Christ many are made Righteous Rom. 5.18 And that we are made Righteous by the Imputation of Righteousness unto us Blessed is the man unto whom God imputeth Righteousness without works chap. 4.6 And if we are made Righteous by the Imputation of Righteousness unto us that Obedience or Righteousness whereby we are made Righteous is imputed unto us And they will be content with this Expression of this Doctrine That the Obedience of Christ whereby we are made Righteous is the Righteousness that God imputeth unto us Wherefore this Objection is of no force to disadvantage the Truth pleaded for 2. Socinus objects in particular against this Doctrine of Justification by the Imputation of the Righteousness of Christ and of his satisfaction that there is nothing said of it in the Evangelists nor in the Report of the Sermons of Christ unto the people no nor yet in those of his private Discourses with his Disciples And he urgeth it vehemently and at large against the whole of the Expiation of sin by his Death De Servator par 4. cap. 9. And as it is easie malis inventis pejora addere this notion of his is not only made
that herein their Spiritual and Eternal Interest was concerned they made their Enquiries after the Truth in this matter which they knew must be the only means of their Deliverance All men in those days were either kept in Bondage under endless Fears and Anxieties of mind upon the convictions of sin or sent for Relief unto Indulgences Priestly Pardons Pennances Pilgrimages works satisfactory of their own and supererogatory of others or kept under Chains of Darkness for Purgatory unto the last day Now he is no way able to compare things past and present who fees not how great an Alteration is made in these things even in the Papal Church For before the Reformation whereby the Light of the Gospel especially in this Doctrine of Justification was diffused among men and shone even into their minds who never comprehended nor received it the whole almost of Religion among them was taken up with and confined unto these things And to instigate men unto an abounding sedulity in the observation of them their minds were stuffed with Traditions and Stories of Visions Apparitions frightful Spirits and other Imaginations that poor mortals are apt to be amazed withall and which their restless disquietments gave countenance unto Somnia terrores Magici miracula sagae Nocturni Lemures portentaque Thessala Were the principal objects of their Creed and matter of their Religious Conversation That very Church it self is comparatively at ease from these things unto what it was before the Reformation though so much of them is still retained as to blind the Eyes of men from discerning the Necessity as well as the Truth of the Evangelical Doctrine of Justification It is fallen out herein not much otherwise then it did at the first Entrance of Christianity into the world For there was an Emanation of Light and Truth from the Gospel which affected the minds of men by whom yet the whole of it in its general Design was opposed and persecuted For from thence the very vulgar sort of men became to have better apprehensions and notions of God and his properties or the Original and Rule of the Universe then they had arrived unto in the midnight of their Paganism And a sort of learned speculative men there were who by virtue of that Light of Truth which sprung from the Gospel and was now diffused into the minds of men reformed and improved the old Philosophy discarding many of those falshoods and impertinencies wherewith it had been encumbred But when this was done they still maintained their cause on the old principles of the Philosophers and indeed their opposition unto the Gospel was far more plausible and pleadable than it was before For after they had discarded the gross conceptions of the common sort about the divine Nature and Rule and had blended the Light of Truth which brake forth in Christian Religion with their own Philosophical notions they made a vigorous Attempt for the reinforcement of Heathenism against the main Design of the Gospel And things have not as I said fallen out much otherwise in the Reformation For as by the Light of Truth which therein brake forth the Consciences of even the vulgar sort are in some measure freed from those Childish Affrightments which they were before in Bondage unto so those who are Learned have been enabled to reduce the Opinions and Practices of their Church into a more defensible posture and make their Opposition unto the Truths of the Gospel more plausible than they formerly were Yea that Doctrine which in the way of its Teaching and Practice among them as also in its effects on the Consciences of men was so horrid as to drive innumerable persons from their Communion in that and other things also is now in the new Representation of it with the artificial covering provided for its former effects in practice thought an Argument meet to be pleaded for a return unto its entire Communion But to root out the Superstitions mentioned out of the minds of men to communicate unto them the knowledge of the Righteousness of God which is revealed from Faith to Faith and thereby to deliver them from their bondage fears and distress directing convinced sinners unto the only way of solid peace with God did the first Reformers labour so diligently in the Declaration and Vindication of the Evangelical Doctrine of Justification and God was with them And it is worth our consideration whether we should on every cavil and sophism of men not so taught not so employed not so tryed not so owned of God as they were and in whose Writings there are not appearing such Characters of Wisdom sound Judgment and deep Experience as in theirs easily part with that Doctrine of Truth wherein alone they found peace unto their own Souls and whereby they were instrumental to give liberty and peace with God unto the Souls and Consciences of others innumerable accompanied with the visible effects of Holiness of Life and fruitfulness in the works of Righteousness unto the praise of God by Jesus Christ. In my judgment Luther spake the truth when he said amisso Articulo Justificationis simul amissa est tota Doctrina Christiana And I wish he had not been a true Prophet when he foretold that in the following Ages the Doctrine hereof would be again obscured the Causes whereof I have elsewhere enquired into Some late Writers indeed among the Protestants have endeavoured to reduce the controversie about Justification with the Papists unto an Appearance of a far less real Difference then is usually judged to be in it And a good work it is no doubt to pare off all unnecessary occasions of Debate and Differences in Religion provided we go not so near the Quick as to let out any of its vital Spirits The way taken herein is to proceed upon some Concessions of the most sober among the Papists in their Ascriptions unto Grace and the Merit of Christ on the one side and the express judgment of the Protestants variously delivered of the necessity of good works to them that are justified Besides it appears that in different expressions which either party adhere unto as it were by Tradition the same things are indeed intended Among them who have laboured in this kind Ludovicus le Blanc for his perspicuity and plainness his moderation and freedom from a contentious frame of Spirit is pene solus legi dignus He is like the Ghost of Tiresias in this matter But I must needs say that I have not seen the effect that might be desired of any such undertaking For when each party comes unto the Interpretation of their own Concessions which is ex communi jure to be allowed unto them and which they will be sure to do in compliance with their Judgment in the substance of the Doctrine wherein the main stress of the Difference lies the distance and breach continue as Wide as ever they were Nor is there the least ground towards peace obtained by any of our condescensions or
alone others Faith and Works also and that in the same kind of necessity and use That whose consideration we at present undertake is the second thing proposed And indeed herein lies the substance of the whole controversie about our Justification before God upon the determination and stating whereof the determination of all other incident Questions doth depend This therefore is that which herein I affirm The Righteousness of Christ in his Obedience and Suffering for us imputed unto Believers as they are united unto him by his spirit is that Righteousness whereon they are justified before God on the Account whereof their sins are pardoned and a Right is granted them into the Heavenly Inheritance This Position is such as wherein the substance of that Doctrine in this important Article of Evangelical Truth which we plead for is plainly and fully expressed And I have chosen the rather thus to express it because it is that Thesis wherein the Learned Davenant laid down that common Doctrine of the Reformed Churches whose defence he undertook This is the shield of Truth in the whole cause of Justification which whilst it is preserved safe we need not trouble our selves about the Differences that are among Learned men about the most proper stating and declaration of some lesser concernments of it This is the Refuge the only Refuge of distressed Consciences wherein they may find Rest and Peace For the confirmation of this Assertion I shall do these three things 1 Reflect on what is needful unto the Explanation of it 2 Answer the most important general Objections against it 3 Prove the Truth of it by Arguments and Testimonies of the holy Scripture As to the first of these or what is necessary unto the Explanation of this Assertion it hath been sufficiently spoken unto in our foregoing Discourses The Heads of some things only shall at present be called over 1. The Foundation of the Imputation asserted is Union Hereof there are many Grounds and Causes as hath been declared But that which we have immediate respect unto as the Foundation of this Imputation is that whereby the Lord Christ and Believers do actually coalesce into one mystical Person This is by the Holy Spirit inhabiting in him as the Head of the Church in all fulness and in all Believers according to their measure whereby they became members of his mystical Body That there is such an Union between Christ and Believers is the Faith of the Catholick Church and hath been so in all Ages Those who seem in our days to deny it or question it either know not what they say or their minds are influenced by their Doctrine who deny the Divine Persons of the Son and of the Spirit Upon supposition of this Vnion Reason will grant the Imputation pleaded for to be reasonable at least that there is such a peculiar Ground for it as is not to be exemplified in any things natural or political among men 2. The Nature of Imputation hath been fully spoken unto before and thereunto I refer the Reader for the understanding of what is intended thereby 3. That which is imputed is the Righteousness of Christ and briefly I understand hereby his whole Obedience unto God in all that he did and suffered for the Church This I say is imputed unto Believers so as to become their only Righteousness before God unto the Justification of Life If beyond these things any Expressions have been made use of in the Explanation of this Truth which have given occasion unto any Differences or Contests although they may be true and defensible against Objections yet shall not I concern my self in them The substance of the Truth as laid down is that whose Defence I have undertaken and where that is granted or consented unto I will not contend with any about their way and methods of its Declaration nor defend the Terms and Expressions that have by any been made use of therein For instance Some have said that what Christ did and suffered is so imputed unto us as that we are judged and esteemed in the sight of God to have done or suffered our selves in him This I shall not concern my self in For although it may have a sound sense given unto it and is used by some of the Antients yet because offence is taken at it and the substance of the Truth we plead for is better otherwise expressed it ought not to be contended about For we do not say that God judgeth or esteemeth that we did and suffered in our own persons what Christ did and suffered but only that he did it and suffered it in our stead Hereon God makes a Grant and Donation of it unto Believers upon their Believing unto their Justification before him And the like may be said of many other Expressions of the like nature These things being premised I proceed unto the consideration of the general objections that are urged against the Imputation we plead for And I shall insist only on some of the principal of them and whereinto all others may be resolved for it were endless to go over all that any mans Invention can suggest unto him of this kind And some general considerations we must take along with us herein As 1. The Doctrine of Justification is a part yea an eminent part of the mystery of the Gospel It is no marvel therefore if it be not so exposed unto the common notions of Reason as some would have it to be There is more required unto the true spiritual understanding of such mysteries yea unless we intend to renounce the Gospel it must be asserted that Reason as it is corrupted and the mind of man destitute of Divine supernatural Revelation do dislike every such Truth and rise up in Enmity against it So the Scripture directly affirms Rom. 8.7 1 Cor. 2.14 2. Hence are the Minds and Inventions of men wonderful fertile in coyning Objections against Evangelical Truths and raising cavils against them Seldom to this purpose do they want an endless number of sophistical Objections which because they know no better they themselves judge insoluble For carnal Reason being once set at liberty under the false notion of Truth to act it self freely and boldly against spiritual mysteries is subtile in its arguings and pregnant in its Invention of them How endless for instance are the Sophisms of the Socinians against the Doctrine of the Trinity and how do they triumph in them as unanswerable Under the shelter of them they despise the force of the most evident Testimonies of the Scripture and those multiplied on all occasions In like manner they deal with the Doctrine of the satisfaction of Christ as the Pelagians of old did with that of his Grace Wherefore he that will be startled at the Appearance of subtile or plausible Objections against any Gospel mysteries that are plainly revealed and sufficiently attested in the Scripture is not likely to come unto much stability in his Profession of them 3. The most of the
the Son of God was never absolutely made 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 under the Law nor could be formally obliged thereby He was indeed as the Apostle witnesseth made so in his Humane Nature wherein he performed this Obedience made of a Woman made under the Law Gal. 4.4 He was so far forth made under the Law as he was made of a Woman For in his Person he abode Lord of the Sabbath Mark 2.28 And therefore of the whole Law But the Obedience it self was the Obedience of that Person who never was nor ever could absolutely be made under the Law in his whole Person For the Divine Nature cannot be subjected unto an outward work of its own such as the Law is nor can it have an Authoritative commanding power over it as it must have if it were made 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 under the Law Thus the Apostle argues That Levi paid Tithes in Abraham because he was then in his Loyns when Abraham himself paid Tithes unto Melchisedec Heb. 7. And thence he proves That he was inferior unto the Lord Christ of whom Melchisedec was a Type But may it not thereon be replied that then no less the Lord Christ was in the Loyns of Abraham then Levi For verily as the same Apostle speaks he took on him the Seed of Abraham It is true therefore that he was so in respect of his Humane Nature but as he was typed and represented by Melchisedec in his whole Person without Father without Mother without Genealogy without beginning of Days or End of Life So he was not absolutely in Abrahams Loyns and was exempted from being tithed in him Wherefore the Obedience whereof we treat being not the Obedience of the Humane Nature abstractedly however performed in and by the Humane Nature but the Obedience of the Person of the Son of God however the Humane Nature was subject to the Law in what Sense and unto what Ends shall be declared afterwards it was not for himself nor could be for himself because his whole Person was not obliged thereunto It is therefore a fond thing to compare the Obedience of Christ with that of any other Man whose whole person is under the Law For although that may not be for himself and others which yet we shall shew that in some cases it may yet this may yea must be for others and not for himself This then we must strictly hold unto If the Obedience that Christ yielded unto the Law were for himself whereas it was the Act of his Person his whole Person and the Divine Nature therein were made under the Law which cannot be For although it is acknowledged that in the Ordination of God his Exinanition was to precede his Glorious Majestical Exaltation as the Scripture witnesseth Phil. 2.9 Luk. 24.26 Rom. 14.9 yet absolutely his Glory was an immediate consequent of the Hypostatical Vnion Heb. 1.6 Matth. 2.11 Socinus I confess evades the force of this Argument by denying the Divine Person of Christ. But in this Disputation I take that for granted as having proved it elswhere beyond what any of his followers are able to contradict And if we may not build on Truths by him denied we shall scarce have any one principle of Evangelical Truth left us to prove any thing from However I intend them only at present who concur with him in the matter under debate but renounce his opinion concerning the Person of Christ. 2. As our Lord Jesus Christ owed not in his own Person this Obedience for himself by vertue of any Authority or Power that the Law had over him so he designed and intended it not for himself but for us This added unto the former consideration gives full evidence unto the Truth pleaded for For if he was not obliged unto it for himself his Person that yielded it not being under the Law and if he intended it not for himself then it must be for us or be useless It was in our Humane Nature that he performed all this Obedience Now the susception of our Nature was a voluntary Act of his own with reference unto some end and purpose and that which was the end of the Assumption of our Nature was in like manner the End of all that he did therein Now it was for us and not for himself that he assumed our nature nor was any thing added unto him thereby Wherefore in the issue of his Work he proposeth this only unto himself That he may be glorified with that Glory which he had with the Father before the World was by the removal of that veil which was put upon it in his Exinanition But that it was for us That he assumed our nature is the foundation of Christian Religion as it is asserted by the Apostle Heb. 2.14 Phil. 2.5 6 7 8. Some of the Antient Schoolmen disputed That the Son of God should have been incarnate although Man had not sinned and fallen The same opinion was fiercely pursued by Osiander as I have elswhere declared but none of them once imagined that he should have been so made Man as to be made under the Law and be obliged thereby unto that Obedience which now he hath performed But they judged that immediately he was to have been a Glorious Head unto the whole Creation For it is a common notion and presumption of all Christians but only such as will sacrifice such notions unto their own private conceptions That the Obedience which Christ yielded unto the Law on the Earth in the state and condition wherein he yielded it was not for himself but for the Church which was obliged unto perfect Obedience but was not able to accomplish it That this was his sole End and Design in it is a Fundamental Article if I mistake not of the Creed of most Christians in the World and to deny it doth consequentially overthrow all the Grace and Love both of the Father and Son in his Mediation It is said That this Obedience was necessary as a Qualification of his Person that he might be meet to be a Mediator for us and therefore was for himself It belongs unto the necessary constitution of his Person with respect unto his Mediatory Work But this I positively deny The Lord Christ was every way meet for the whole Work of Mediation by the ineffable union of the Humane Nature with the Divine which exalted it in Dignity Honor and Worth above any thing or all things that insued thereon For hereby he became in his whole Person the object of all Divine Worship and Honor for when he brings the first begotten into the World he saith And let all the Angels of God worship him Again That which is an effect of the Person of the Mediator as constituted such is not a qualification necessary unto its constitution that is what he did as Mediator did not concur to the making of him meet so to be But of this Nature was all the Obedience which he yielded unto the Law for as such It
Apprehensions who cryed Sirs What must I do to be saved 2. With respect unto this state and condition of men or men in this state and condition the enquiry is What that is upon the account whereof God pardoneth all their sins receiveth them into his favour declareth or pronounceth them Righteous and acquitted from all Guilt removes the Curse and turneth away all his wrath from them giving them Right and Title unto a blessed Immortality or life Eternal This is that alone wherein the Consciences of sinners in this estate are concerned Nor do they enquire after any thing but what they may have to oppose unto or answer the Justice of God in the commands and curse of the Law and what they may betake themselves unto for the obtaining of Acceptance with him unto life and salvation That the Apostle doth thus and no otherwise state this whole matter and in an Answer unto this Enquiry declare the nature of Justification and all the causes of it in the third and fourth Chapters of the Epistle to the Romans and elswhere shall be afterwards declared and proved And we shall also manifest that the Apostle James in the second Chapter of his Epistle doth not speak unto this Enquiry nor give an Answer unto it but it is of Justification in another sense and to another purpose whereof he treateth And whereas we cannot either safely or usefully treat of this Doctrine but with respect unto the same Ends for which it is declared and whereunto it is applied in the Scripture we should not by any pretences be turned aside from attending unto this Case and its Resolution in all our Discourses on this subject For it is the Direction Satisfaction and peace of the Consciences of men and not the curiosity of Notions or subtilty of Disputations which it is our Duty to design And therefore I shall as much as possibly I may avoid all those Philosophical Terms and Distinctions wherewith this Evangelical Doctrine hath been perplexed rather than illustrated For more weight is to be put on the steady Guidance of the Mind and Conscience of one Believer really exercised about the Foundation of his peace and acceptance with God then on the confutation of ten wrangling Disputers 3. Now the Enquiry on what account or for what Cause and Reason a man may be so acquitted or discharged of sin and accepted with God as before declared doth necessarily issue in this Whether it be any thing in our selves as our Faith and Repentance the Renovation of our Natures inherent habits of Grace and actual works of Righteousness which we have done or may do or whether it be the Obedience Righteousness Satisfaction and Merit of the Son of God our Mediator and Surety of the Covenant imputed unto us One of these it must be namely something that is our own which whatever may be the Influence of the Grace of God into it or causality of it because wrought in and by us is inherently our own in a proper sense or something which being not our own not inherent in us not wrought by us is yet imputed unto us for the pardon of our sins and the Acceptation of our Persons as righteous or the making of us Righteous in the sight of God Neither are these things capable of mixture or composition Rom. 11.6 Which of these it is the Duty Wisdome and safety of a convinced sinner to rely upon and trust unto in his Appearance before God is the sum of our present Enquiry 4. The way whereby sinners do or ought to betake themselves unto this Relief on supposition that it is the Righteousness of Christ and how they come to be partakers of or interested in that which is not inherently their own unto as good Benefit and as much Advantage as if it were their own is of a distinct consideration And as this also is clearly determined in the Scripture so it is acknowledged in the Experience of all them that do truly believe Neither are we in this matter much to regard the senses or arguings of men who were never throughly convinced of sin nor have ever in their own persons fled for Refuge unto the Hope set before them 5. These things I say are always to be attended unto in our whole Disquisition into the nature of Evangelical Justification For without a constant respect unto them we shall quickly wander into curious and perplexed Questions wherein the Consciences of guilty Sinners are not concerned and which therefore really belong not unto the substance or truth of this Doctrine nor are to be immixed therewith It is alone the Relief of those who are in themselves 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 guilty before or obnoxious and liable to the Judgment of God that we enquire after That this is not any thing in or of themselves nor can so be that it is a Provision without them made in infinite Wisdom and Grace by the mediation of Christ his Obedience and Death therein is secured in the Scripture against all contradiction And it is the fundamental Principle of the Gospel Math. 11.28 6. It is confessed that many things for the Declaration of the Truth and the order of the Dispensation of Gods Grace herein are necessarily to be insisted on such are the nature of Justifying Faith the place and use of it in Justification the Causes of the new Covenant the true notion of the Mediation and Suretiship of Christ and the like which shall all of them be enquired into But beyond what tends directly unto the Guidance of the Minds and satisfaction of the Souls of Men who seek after a stable and abiding foundation of Acceptance with God we are not easily to be drawn unless we are free to lose the Benefit and Comfort of this most important Evangelical Truth in needless and unprofitable contentions And amongst many other miscarriages which men are subject unto whilst they are conversant about these things this in an especial manner is to be avoided 1. For the Doctrine of Justification is directive of Christian Practice and in no other Evangelical Truth is the whole of our Obedience more concerned For the Foundation Reasons and Motives of all our Duty towards God are contained therein Wherefore in order unto the due improvement of them ought it to be taught and not otherwise That which alone we aim or ought so to do to learn in it and by it is how we may get and maintain peace with God and so to live unto him as to be accepted with him in what we do To satisfie the Minds and Consciences of men in these things is this Doctrine to be taught Wherefore to carry it out of the understandings of ordinary Christians by speculative notions and distinctions is disserviceable unto the Faith of the Church Yea the mixing of Evangelical Revelations with Philosophical Notions hath been in sundry Ages the Poison of Religion Pretence of accuracy and artificial skill in Teaching is that which giveth countenance unto such a
they found in many who yet do so assent unto the Truth But as we have shewed this is necessary unto Evangelical Justifying Faith and to suppose the contrary is to overthrow the order and use of the Law and Gospel with their mutual Relation unto one another in subserviency unto the design of God in the Salvation of Sinners 4. It is not a way of seeking Relief unto a convinced sinner whose mouth is stopped in that he is become guilty before God Such alone are capable Subjects of Justification and do or can seek after it in a due manner A meer Assent unto Divine Revelation is not peculiarly suited to give such persons Relief For it is that which brings them into that condition from whence they are to be relieved For the knowledge of sin is by the Law But Faith is a peculiar acting of the Soul for Deliverance 5. It is no more then what the Devils themselves may have and have as the Apostle James affirms For that Instance of their Believing one God proves that they believe also whatever this one God who is the first Essential Truth doth reveal to be true And it may consist with all manner of wickedness and without any Obedience and so make God a liar 1 Joh. 2.4 And it is no wonder if men deny us to be justified by Faith who know no other Faith but this 6. It no way answers the Descriptions that are given of justifying Faith in the Scripture Particularly it is by Faith as it is justifying that we are said to receive Christ Joh. 1.12 Col. 2.6 To receive the Promise the Word the Grace of God the Attonement Jam. 1.21 Joh. 3.33 Act. 2.41 chap. 11.1 Rom. 5.11 Heb. 11.17 To cleave unto God Deut. 4.4 Act. 11.23 And so in the Old Testament it is generally expressed by Trust and Hope Now none of these things are contained in a meer Assent unto the Truth but they require other actings of the Soul than what are peculiar unto the understanding only 7. It answers not the Experience of them that truly believe This all our Enquiries and Arguments in this matter must have respect unto For the sum of what we aim at is only to discover what they do who really believe unto the Justification of Life It is not what notions men may have hereof nor how they express their Conceptions how defensible they are against Objections by accuracy of Expressions and subtile Distinctions but only what we our selves do if we truly believe that we enquire after And although our Differences about it do argue the great imperfection of that state wherein we are so as that those who truly believe cannot agree what they do in their so doing which should give us a mutual tenderness and forbearance towards each other yet if men would attend unto their own Experience in the Application of their Souls unto God for the pardon of Sin and Righteousness to Life more than unto the notions which on various occasions their minds are influenced by or prepossessed withall many differences and unnecessary disputations about the nature of Justifying Faith would be prevented or prescinded I deny therefore that this general Assent unto the Truth how firm soever it be or what effects in the way of Duty or Obedience soever it may produce doth answer the Experience of any one true Believer as containing the entire Actings of his Soul towards God for pardon of sin and Justification 8. That Faith alone is Justifying which hath Justification actually accompanying of it For thence alone it hath that denomination To suppose a man to have Justifying Faith and not to be justified is to suppose a Contradiction Nor do we enquire after the nature of any other Faith but that whereby a Believer is actually justified But it is not so with all them in whom this Assent is found nor will those that plead for it allow that upon it alone any are immediately justified Wherefore it is sufficiently evident that there is somewhat more required unto Justifying Faith than a real Assent unto all Divine Revelations although we do give that Assent by the Faith whereby we are justified But on the other side it is supposed that by some the Object of Justifying Faith is so much restrained and the nature of it thereby determined unto such a peculiar Acting of the mind as compriseth not the whole of what is in the Scripture ascribed unto it So some have said that it is the pardon of our sins in particular that is the Object of Justifying Faith Faith therefore they make to be a full perswasion of the forgiveness of our sins through the Mediation of Christ or that what Christ did and suffered as our Mediator he did it for us in particular And a particular Application of especial mercy unto our own Souls and Consciences is hereby made the Essence of Faith Or to believe that our own sins are forgiven seems hereby to be the first and most proper Act of Justifying Faith Hence it would follow that whosoever doth not believe or hath not a firm perswasion of the forgiveness of his own sins in particular hath no saving Faith is no true Believer which is by no means to be admitted And if any have been or are of this Opinion I fear that they were in the asserting of it neglective of their own Experience Or it may be rather that they knew not how in their Experience all the other Actings of Faith wherein its Essence doth consist were included in this perswasion which in an especial manner they aimed at whereof we shall speak afterwards And there is no doubt unto me but that this which they propose Faith is suited unto aimeth at and doth ordinarily effect in true Believers who improve it and grow in its exercise in a due manner Many great Divines at the first Reformation did as the Lutherans generally yet do thus make the mercy of God in Christ and thereby the forgiveness of our own sins to be the proper Object of Justifying Faith as such whose Essence therefore they placed in a fiducial Trust in the Grace of God by Christ declared in the Promises with a certain unwavering Application of them unto our selves And I say with some confidence that those who endeavour not to attain hereunto either understand not the nature of Believing or are very neglective both of the Grace of God and of their own Peace That which enclined those great and holy Persons so to express themselves in this matter and to place the Essence of Faith in the highest Acting of it wherein yet they always included and supposed its other Acts was the state of the Consciences of men with whom they had to do Their Contest in this Article with the Roman Church was about the way and means whereby the Consciences of convinced troubled sinners might come to rest and peace with God For at that time they were no otherwise instructed but that these things were to be obtained not
sympathy in the same body seeing that being the Word of God he would take the form of a Servant and be joyned unto the common habitation of us all in the same nature took the sorrows or labours of the suffering members on him and made all their Infirmities his own and according to the Laws of humanity in the same body bare our sorrow and labour for us And the Lamb of God did not only these things for us but he underwent torments and was punished for us that which he was no ways exposed unto for himself but we were so by the multitude of our sins and thereby he became the cause of the pardon of our sins namely because he underwent Death Stripes Reproaches translating the thing which we had deserved unto himself and was made a Curse for us taking unto himself the Curse that was due to us For what was he but a substitute for us a price of Redemption for our Souls In our person therefore the Oracle speaks whilst freely uniting himself unto us and us unto himself and making our sins or passions his own I have said Lord be merciful unto me heal my Soul for I have sinned against thee That our sins were transferred unto Christ and made his that thereon he underwent the punishment that was due unto us for them and that the Ground hereof whereinto its Equity is resolved is the Vnion between him and us is fully declared in this Discourse So saith the Learned and Pathetical Author of the Homilies on Math. 5. in the works of Chrysostom Hom. 54. which is the last of them In carne sua omnem carnem suscepit crucifixus omnem carnem crucifixit in se. He speaks of the Church So they speak often others of them that he bare us that he took us with him on the Cross that we were all crucified in him as Prospher He is not saved by the Cross of Christ who is not crucified in Christ. Resp. ad cap. Gal. cap. 9. This then I say is the Foundation of the Imputation of the sins of the Church unto Christ namely that he and it are one Person the Grounds whereof we must enquire into But hereon sundry Discourses do ensue and various Enquiries are made What a Person is in what sense and how many senses that word may be used what is the true notion of it what is a natural Person what a legal civil or political Person in the Explication whereof some have fallen into mistakes And if we should enter into this Field we need not fear matter enough of debate and altercation But I must needs say that these things belong not unto our present occasion nor is the Union of Christ and the Church illustrated but obscured by them For Christ and Believers are neither one natural Person nor a legal or political Person nor any such Person as the Laws Customs or Usages of men do know or allow of They are one mystical Person whereof although there may be some imperfect Resemblances found in natural or political Unions yet the Union from whence that Denomination is taken between him and us is of that nature and ariseth from such Reasons and Causes as no Personal Vnion among men or the Vnion of many persons hath any concernment in And therefore as to the Representation of it unto our weak understandings unable to comprehend the depth of Heavenly mysteries it is compared unto Vnions of divers kinds and natures So is it represented by that of Man and Wife not unto those mutual affections which give them only a moral Vnion but from the extraction of the first Woman from the flesh and bone of the first man and the Institution of God for the Individual Society of Life thereon This the Apostle at large declares Ephes. 5.25 26 27 28 29 30 31 32. Whence he concludes that from the Union thus represented we are members of his Body of his flesh and of his bone ver 30. or have such a Relation unto him as Eve had to Adam when she was made of his flesh and bone and so was one flesh with him So also it is compared unto the Union of the Head and Members of the same natural Body 1 Cor. 12.12 and unto a political Vnion also between a Ruling or political Head and its political Members but never exclusively unto the Union of a natural Head and its Members comprized in the same Expression Ephes. 4.15 Col. 2.19 And so also unto sundry things in nature as a Vine and its Branches Joh. 15.1 2 3. And it is declared by the Relation that was between Adam and his posterity by Gods Institution and the Law of Creation Rom. 5.12 c. And the Holy Ghost by representing the Union that is between Christ and Believers by such a variety of Resemblances in things agreeing only in the common or general notion of Vnion on various Grounds doth sufficiently manifest that it is not of nor can be reduced unto any one kind of them And this will yet be made more evident by the consideration of the Causes of it and the Grounds whereinto it is resolved But whereas it would require much time and diligence to handle them at large which the mention of them here being occasional will not admit I shall only briefly refer unto the Heads of them 1. The first spring or cause of this Vnion and of all the other causes of it lieth in that eternal compact that was between the Father and the Son concerning the Recovery and Salvation of fallen mankind Herein among other things as the effects thereof the Assumption of our nature the foundation of this Union was designed The nature and terms of this Compact Counsel and Agreement I have declared elsewhere and therefore must not here again insist upon it But the Relation between Christ and the Church proceeding from hence and so being an effect of infinite Wisdom in the Counsel of the Father and Son to be made effectual by the Holy Spirit must be distinguished from all other Vnions or Relations whatever 2. The Lord Christ as unto the nature which he was to assume was hereon predestinated unto Grace and Glory He was 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 fore-ordained predestinated before the foundation of the World 1 Pet. 1.20 That is he was so as unto his Office so unto all the Grace and Glory required thereunto and consequent thereon All the Grace and Glory of the Humane Nature of Christ was an effect of free Divine preordination God chose it from all Eternity unto a participation of all which it received in time Neither can any other cause of the Glorious Exaltation of that portion of our nature be assigned 3. This Grace and Glory whereunto he was preordained was twofold 1 That which was peculiar unto himself 2 That which was to be Communicated by and through him unto the Church Of the first sort was the 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the Grace of Personal Vnion that single effect of Divine Wisdom whereof
there is no shadow nor Resemblance in any other works of God either of Creation Providence or Grace which his nature was filled withal Full of Grace and Truth And all his personal Glory Power Authority and Majesty as Mediator in his Exaltation at the right hand of God which is expressive of them all doth belong hereunto These things were peculiar unto him and all of them effects of his eternal Predestination But 2 He was not thus predestinated absolutely but also with respect unto that Grace and Glory which in him and by him was to be communicated unto the Church And he was so 1. As the Pattern and Exemplary cause of our Predestination For we are predestinated to be conformed unto the Image of the Son of God that he might be the first born among many Brethren Rom. 8.29 Hence he shall even change our vile Body that it may be fashioned like unto his Glorious Body Phil. 3.21 That when he appears we may be every way like him 1 Joh. 3.2 2. As the means and cause of Communicating all Grace and Glory unto us For we are chosen in him before the foundation of the World that we should be Holy and predestinated unto the Adoption of Children by him Ephes. 1.3 4 5. He was designed as the only procuring cause of all spiritual Blessings in Heavenly things unto those who are chosen in him Wherefore 3. He was thus fore-ordained as the Head of the Church it being the design of God to gather all things into an Head in him Ephes. 1.10 4. All the Elect of God were in his eternal purpose and design and in the everlasting Covenant between the Father and the Son committed unto him to be delivered from Sin the Law and Death and to be brought into the enjoyment of God Thine they were and thou gavest them unto me Joh. 17.6 Hence was that love of his unto them wherewith he loved them and gave himself for them antecedently unto any good or love in them Ephes. 5.25 26. Gal. 2.20 Rev. 1.5 6. 5. In the prosecution of this design of God and in the accomplishment of the everlasting Covenant in the fulness of Time he took upon him our Nature or took it into personal subsistence with himself The especial Relation that ensued hereon between him and the Elect Children the Apostle declares at large Heb. 2.10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17. And I refer the Reader unto our exposition of that place 6. On these Foundations he undertook to be the Surety of the new Covenant Heb. 7.22 Jesus was made a Surety of a better Testament This alone of all the fundamental considerations of the Imputation of our sins unto Christ I shall insist upon on purpose to obviate or remove some mistakes about the Nature of his Suretiship and the respect of it unto the Covenant whereof he was the Surety And I shall borrow what I shall offer hereon from our exposition of this passage of the Apostle on the seventh Chapter of this Epistle not yet published with very little variation from what I have discoursed on that occasion without the least respect unto or prospect of any treating on our present subject The word 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 is no where found in the Scripture but in this place only But the advantage which some would make from thence namely that it being but one place wherein the Lord Christ is called a Surety it is not of much force or much to be insisted on is both unreasonable and absurd For 1 this one place is of Divine Revelation and therefore is of the same Authority with twenty Testimonies unto the same purpose One Divine Testimony makes our Faith no less necessary nor doth one less secure it from being deceived then an hundred 2. The signification of the word is known from the use of it and what it signifies among men that no question can be made of its sense and importance though it be but once used And this on any occasion removes the Difficulty and Danger 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 3 The thing it self intended is so fully declared by the Apostle in this place and so plentifully taught in other places of the Scripture as that the single use of this word may add light but can be no prejudice unto it Something may be spoken unto the signification of the word 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 which will give light into the thing intended by it 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 is Vola manus the palm of the hand Thence is 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 or 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 to deliver into the hand 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 is of the same signification Hence being a Surety is interpreted by striking the hand Prov. 6.1 My Son if thou be Surety for thy friend if thou hast stricken thy hand with a Stranger So it answers the Hebrew 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 which the Lxx render 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Prov. 6.1 Chap. 17.18 Chap. 20.19 and by 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Nehem. 5.3 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Originally signifies to mingle or a mixture of any things or persons And thence from the conjunction and mixture that is between a Surety and him for whom he is a Surety whereby they coalesce into one person as unto the ends of that Suretiship it is used for a Surety or to give Surety And he that was or did 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 a Surety or become a Surety was to answer for him for whom he was so whatsoever befell him So is it described Gen. 43.9 in the words of Judah unto his Father Jacob concerning Benjamin 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 I will be Surety for him of my hand shalt thou require him In undertaking to be Surety for him as unto his safety and preservation he engageth himself to answer for all that should befall him for so he adds if I bring him not unto the and set him before the let me be guilty for ever And on this ground he entreats Joseph that he might be a Servant and a Bondman in his stead that he might go free and return unto his Father Gen. 44.32 33. This is required unto such a Surety that he undergo and answer all that he for whom he is a Surety is liable unto whether in things criminal or civil so far as the Suretiship doth extend A Surety is an undertaker for another or others who thereon is justly and legally to answer what is due to them or from them Nor is the Word otherwise used See Job 17.3 Prov. 6.1 Chap. 11.15 Chap. 17.11 Chap. 20.16 Chap. 27.13 So Paul became a Surety unto Philemon for Onesimus ver 17. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 is Sponsio Expromissio Fidejussio an undertaking or giving Security for any thing or Person unto another whereon an Agreement did ensue This in some cases was by Pledges or an Earnest Isa. 36.8 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Give Surety Pledges Hostages for the true performance of conditions Hence is 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉