Actions with hearkening to the unknown Service and the loud Singings and melody of Instruments all which noises and starings conjure up their joys dolours and amazements to the dazling of the understanding and confounding of the Memory and Will of the Inward man during the hurry that is upon the Senses of the Outward man Thus the Heathens made their Religion a Systeme of pitiful Rites sneaking and beggarly Entertainments Hay and Stubble fit enough for such Deities as they served but most nasty and unbecoming and odious to the Most High God Whatever is grave decent and orderly in the Outward Worship of a Christian is not to be rejected but if it be not these it is not to be imposed and when even these become numerous or grievous they are to be removed by the same lawful hand that brought them in Now although the Spirituality of the Gospel excludes all shadows of Ceremonies and all bodily Rites from being of the substance of Religion yet this Spirituality does not exclude the Ministry and Service of the Body For the Worship of the Body may also be Spiritual it is a 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Rom. 12.1 and therefore Spiritual Thus the Body Bowing Kneeling Standing Eyes and Hands lifted up to Heaven in Prayer and Praise in Hearing and Communicating in bowels of Yerning Compassion and giving of Alms are all acceptable upon the account of the Spirit because the Body serves the Spirit and the Spirit serves God and all is made a Spiritual worship Reason The Virtues of a Christian are acts and habits of a sanctified Soul whose faculties have each a proper organ of the Body that as the Graces and Endowments of the Soul are commencements and dispositions unto glory So the Spiritual Ministeries of the Body may dispose it to its perfect Spirituality in the Resurrection of the Just But then these Ministeries of the Body are then only to be judged Spiritual service when the Soul and the Body make but one entire agent the act of the soul and body being but one and the same product of Religion whereof the soul is the principal agent and from thence the Actions of the Body are denominated spiritual Whatsoever act of the body is an elicite or imperate act of Virtue or the proper and specifick act of Grace in the Soul is a part of Religion otherwise it is the instrument of vice or vanity and not of the Soul As to give all our goods to the Poor to give our bodies to be burned to have all faith to the removal of mountains c. are but the outsides of Religion and good for nothing unless they proceed from Charity a willing and loving spirit a heart true and right to God for then such a faith justifies such giving to the poor is true Alms and such giving the body to be burned is true Martyrdome 2. Perfection of Christianity That there is a greater Perfection in Christianity than in Judaism or Heathenism Because the Old Testament made nothing perfect therefore the New Testament made all things perfect being established upon better Promises 1. Endeared to us by new instances of Infinite Love and 2. We enabled by many more excellent Graces of the Holy Spirit 1. The Christians under the New Instances and the Jews under the Old Covenant do both of us pray but we are commanded to pray more frequently fervently and continually 2. They and we must be both charitable but they were tied only to their friends and neighbours but we to our enemies and strangers We have more brethren and more neighbours and therefore more is our duty than theirs They were to do their brethren and neighbours no hurt but we must do them and our enemies all good They were to forgive upon submission and repentance but we must invite them to repentance and offer pardon if they will not repent They were to give bread to their needy brethren but we are in some cases to give our lives for the brethren 3. They were to love God with all their Souls and with all their strength and though we cannot do more than this yet we can do more than they did For our Strengths are more our understandings are better instructed Eph. 6.10 c. our Wills more raised our helps far greater our shield stronger our breast-plate broader our armour of Righteousness more of proof than theirs was Dares and Entellus did both contend with all their strength but because Entellus had much more strength than Dares therefore he was the better champion of the two A Child and a Giant do both put forth all the strength they have but because the Giant is stronger than the Child therefore he is the more perfect A Scholar and a Master do both teach the best they can but because the Master hath the greater knowledg therefore he must needs teach far better 1. In the internal acts of virtue a Christian is to be more zealous and operative aiming at excellencies and perfections 2. In the external acts of virtue a Christian must out-do a Jew in prudent zeal They adorned their Temple gave gifts loved all of their perswasion laboured to get proselytes but were uncivil to all others They were bound to pay tithes we are commanded to allow an honourable Maintenance not more work but more love In those Graces which are proper to the Gospel literally and plainly exacted of us and but obscurely insinuated or collaterally required of them we are to adorn the Gospel and advance to an higher and brisker duty Because we have a more spritely Law a clearer revelation greater threatnings better promises and mightier aids 1. Every man must observe the new sanctions or new interpretations of the Old super-added by Christ in his Sermon upon the Mount 2. Every man must do in proportion to all the aids of the Spirit ministred in the Gospel all that he can do which will amount to more than the usual rate of Moses's Law 3. Every Christian must be infinitely removed from Jewish sins such as were Idolatry Obstinacy Hypocrisie Oppression of Strangers sensual and low Appetites of Honour Peace Plenty c. 4. Every Christian must do all their works in Faith and Love In faith to make them accepted because without faith 't is impossible to please God though they be imperfect In love to make them as perfect as they can be Reason Because every Christian hath clearer hopes of a glorious and blessed Immortality The State of our Religion is high for 1. The purity of Commandments 2. Gracious Aids and Endearments 3. The great Example of Jesus 1 John 3.2 3. We are the Sons of God and it does not yet appear what we shall be but this we know that when Christ shall appear we shall be like him for we shall see him as he is and appear with him in Glory And every man that hath this hope in him purifieth himself even as God is pure That is 1. We are the
we shall be saved from wrath c. Do we then make voyd the Law Rom. 8.32 through Faith God forbid yea we establish the Law In all the letter and scope of Scriptures upon this point the form of our Justification appears to be the Imputation or Accounting of our Faith for our right or Justification to the rights promised Ro. 5.17 8. There is mention made of Abundance of Grace and of the gift of righteousness And that by the righteousness of one the free-gift came upon all Men unto justification of life And that by one Man's obedience many were made righteous Phil. 3.9 St. Paul also desires That he may be found in Christ not having his own righteousness which is of the Law but that which is through the Faith of Christ the righteousness which is of God by Faith No Man is justified by the Law in the sight of God for the just shall live by Faith and the Law is not of Faith but the Man that doth them shall live in them Christ hath redeemed us from the curse of the Law being made a curse for us For it is written Cursed is every one that hangeth on a Tree That the Blessing of Abraham might come on the Gentiles through Jesus Christ that we might receive the promise of the Spirit through Faith And the promise that Abraham should be the Heir of the World Ro. 4.13 was not to him or to his Seed through the Law but through the righteousness of Faith SECT III. But in all those places or any other Christ's Righteousness I cannot find any imputation of Christ's Righteousness The Righteousness of Faith and the Righteousness of God by Faith I find but no other By the Righteousness of Christ must be meant his personal obedience to the moral Law which cannot be made ours or translated to us or accounted to us and reckoned as ours for diverse and weighty reasons First because Christ's obedience was the obedience of a Mediator fitted exactly for such a Person and Office and no other A High Priest harmless undefiled separated from sinners c. Hebr. 7.26 one that makes all Men just and righteous and is made unto them righteousness sanctification and Redemption and is God our Righteousness That hath the Spirit of Righteousness without measure that is anointed above all his Fellows with that fulness from which we all receive Grace for grace whose Glory is the Glory of the only Begotten Son of God full of Grace and Truth and much more than the Tongue of Men or Angels can express Now for a Man to be clothed with the Robes of this Righteousness as they speak is to appear before God not in the habit of a righteous and justified Man but of the justifier of the Sons of Men whose righteousness is too excellent and glorious for our condition of a Mediator God and Man We are the better for his active and passive obedience for it is the cause of our Righteousness by Faith The Members partake of the benefit of the Head The Wife is endow'd by Marriage with all her Husband's goods but the virtue of the Head is not appropriated though communicated nor made over to the Members nor is the estate of the Husband past away or made over to his Wife The Endowment of the Wife is no formal cause nor ingredient of Marriage but a fruit or consequent thereof So our justification or our right to the Righteousness of Christ that is to his Rights and Priviledges accrues to us by our Marriage with Christ which is by Faith the formal cause thereof The Estate Wisdom and Righteousness is Christ's but the benefit of them and of all that is Christ's is ours as is the Wealth and Wisdom and Honour of the Husband to the Wife In a word Christ's Righteousness is that for which Faith is accounted to us for Righteousness Ergo the Personal righteousness of Christ himself is not accounted to us Secondly Because Personal moral virtues cannot be past over to others by act of Nature or Law as by Descent Donation Succession Cession Dereliction Degradation Deprivation or any other way or means Because they are inherent habits of the Mind and therefore inseparable from the Mind and if separable altogether inconveyable to the Mind of another by deed of gift Descent of Blood or any other conveyance whatsoever during life or after death But Jural Rights are of that nature as that they may be derived by act of Law not Nature from Parents to their Children from Predecessors to their Successors or Alienated from the Proprietary to any other Person not only to be reckoned but to be really his or theirs to whom the alienation reversion or derivation is made by any act or deed according unto Law to take place in life or after death Also some act of mine may be accounted for a right to my self as my labour for my wages my purchase for my Estate my Faith for my justification Thus Moral Righteousness is inseparable from the Person to which it doth belong and cannot be reckoned to another but Jural Rights are separable and may be accounted to another I may possibly be respected and saved for another's Virtue and Worth but his Virtue and Worth can no waies be made mine Virtue Learning Vice and Ignorance are habits and qualities which are a Man 's own without accounting but Riches and Honours we have as rights accounted unto us or else we cannot have or hold them My Health or Sickness of Body may be propagated to me and from me to another but not the Health or Sickness of my Soul Who can be healthy by another Man's health while he possesseth it Who can be sick by another Man's sickness while he possesseth it Who can be rich by another Man's riches while he enjoyeth them Who can be honourable by another Man's honour while he enjoyes it Who can be disgraced by another Man's disgrace while he suffereth it Who can be poor by another Man's poverty while he endures it Who can be learned by another Man's Learning while he hath it Who can be virtuous by another Man's virtues or vicious by another Man's vice These Virtues or Vices are really his who hath them not really mine whose they are not or how can these things in another be so much as reckoned or accounted to be mine I may be reckoned guilty of another Man's sin and so of his punishment by consenting or helping c. but not for his acting or suffering I cannot be reckoned virtuous by another Man's virtue or sinful by another Man's sin or miserable by another Man's misery If I have many virtues others may have as many virtues or more than I and I have no less than I have but if I have many rights to such or such things others can have no rights to the same things If they be taken away from me in part I have the less if in full I have none at all but others
the Name from the Law it self and all others and is truly and really the everlasting Testament and Covenant of God Of this New Testament the Scriptures of the Old Testament do frequently prophesie Jer. 31.32 Behold the days come saith the Lord That I will make a New Covenant with the house of Israel and with the house of Judah not according to the Covenant which I made with their Fathers in the day that I took them by the hand to bring them out of the Land of Egypt which my Covenant they brake although I was a Husband unto them saith the Lord. And in divers other places hereafter to be noted And these are the two distinct Testaments set forth by the Allegory of Abrahams two Sons the one by a Bond-woman and the other by a Free-woman For these are the Two Testaments Covenants the one from Mount Sinai which gendreth to Bondage Gal. 4.24 which is Agar the other from Mount Sion in Jerusalem which is Free-born which is the Mother of us all And therefore we that are under the second Covenant are not Children of the Bond-woman but of the Free-woman Proofs for the title of Testament But the prime places in the Gospel and writings of the Apostles do most fully demonstrate this Notion of a Testament as in the first place those dying words of the Mediatour himself This is my Blood of the New Testament Matt. 26.28 which is shed for many for the remission of sins Where no man dares translate it Covenant or by any other word than Testament which makes the Opposers sweat to make good the rendring of the same word in other places a Covenant as in the eight of the Hebrews they do Heb 9.16 17. whereas in the next Chapter they cannot do it For this cause he is the Mediatour of the New Testament that by the means of death for the redemption of the Transgressours that were under the first Testament they which are called might receive the promise of eternal Inheritance For where a Testament is there must also of necessity be the death of the Testatour for a Testament is of force when men are dead otherwise it is of no strength at all while the Testatour liveth Wherefore neither the first Testament was dedicated without Blood c. So the 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Gal. 4.24 relate to the 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 v. 7. If a Son then an Heir of God through Christ and v. 30. The Son of the Bond-woman shall not be Heir with the Son of the Free-woman Gal. 3.15 As also Gal. 3.15 though 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 be there translated Covenant yet it strongly soundeth a Testament because if it be confirmed first by death no man can disannul it No man can disannul his own Testament because he is dead and hath no will whereas we see daily that Covenants though never so much confirmed by hands and Seals c. are broken every day at the wills and pleasures of them that made them So 1 Cor. 11.25 This Cup is the New Testament in my Blood 2 Cor. 3.6 God hath made us able Ministers of the New Testament and v. 14. The Old Testament is done away in Christ And in many other places But more particularly let us take a view of Gal. 3.17 Gal. 3.17 This I say that the Covenant which was confirmed before of God in Christ the Law which was four hundred and thirty years after cannot disannul that it should make the Promise of none effect The Argument of the Apostle in the Paragraph v. 15 16 17. is thus Though it be but a Mans Covenant yet if it be once confirmed no such Testatour can disannul it or superadd thereunto by any after-Act much less will the most holy and righteous God of heaven disannul his own Testament when once it is confirmed But I say that Gods Testament was confirmed before the giving of the Law and therefore the Law which was four hundred and thirty years after the Institution of the Testament could not disannul or defeat the Promise therein conteined There are two Acts of a Testament Acts of a Testament Institution or Faction when a Testator declares this to be his last Will and Testament by Word or Writing or both Confirmation or Establishing when he silently declareth it to be unalterable and irrevocable by dying or taking his death upon it These two are different Acts done at different times and by different means the one in Life the other in death Now the Old Testament of God for the Promisory Part of it was first instituted or ordained when Abraham lived in Mesopotamia before he dwelt in Charran for there the Lord had said unto him Gen. 12.2 I will make of thee a great Nation and I will bless thee and make thy Name great and thou shalt be a Blessing c. This Institution was again declared to Abraham when he lived at Sichem for there the Lord appeared unto him and said Gen. 13.4 Lift up now thine eyes and look from the place where thou art Northward and Southward for all the Land which thou seest to thee will I give it and to thy seed for ever The Sum of this Institution was yet again renewed unto Abraham when he dwelt in the Plain of Mamre which is Hebron where the Lord said unto him Gen. 15.7 I am the Lord that brought thee out of Ur of the Chaldees to give thee this Land to inherit it Thus Gods Ordination Institution or Faction of his Testament was sufficiently declared to Abraham immediately after this last Intimation the same Testament was confirmed by God For when Abraham desired some farther Assurance whereby he might know that he should inherit the Land promised Gen. 15.18 God thereupon confirmed or established his Testament by doing a solemn Act which added such Authority and force unto his Testament that by vertue of that Act God deprived himself as a dead man of all power of recalling it Therefore by Gods appointment certain Beasts were slain and divided into half and the pieces laid severally one against another and the Lord as a Burning Lamp passed between those dead pieces and by that passage his Testament was confirmed Gen. 15.18 In that same day Gen. 15.18 the Lord made a Covenant with Abraham In the Hebrew the Lord cut or dispatched his Testament or Promise to Abraham In the Greek he disposed his Disposition to Abraham i. e. he assured it to him saying to thy Seed have I given this Land c. Neither can the Hebrew Word Berith here signifie a Covenant for two Reasons 1. Because the Hebrew Text saith he made a Deed Constitution or Reason 1 Disposition unto Abraham not a Condition or Covenant with Abraham And so the LXX read 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 2. Because as to the Act of God Abraham was not the Counterparty Reason 2 with whom it was done but the Beneficiary unto whom it was done God
good hath no will at all As because Light is the proper object of seeing that Eye that cannot see the light hath no sight at all But as a blind man whose eyes are covered with a Film hath the faculty of seeing for he hath a Soul and organs of sight for he hath eyes but not the sense of seeing for he doth not see so the sinner hath the faculty of Will for he hath a Soul and the organ of Will for he hath a heart but not the Act of will he doth not will for his heart is hard and strong as the Scripture termeth it harder than the Neather Mill-stone The Regenerate have the first Act of the will to good but they fail in the second they cannot perform it Rom. 7.18 To will is present with me but how to perform that which is good I find not The sinner hath neither the first Act nor the second not a will to do good much less to perform it for to will evil is not exactly evil but an act contrary thereto for which we have no name IV. Because Restrained from his own proper Rule Restraint from proper Rule i. e. the Law of God The Law of God is no Rule to the sinner for he will not be ruled by it nor can he enjoy the benefit of it he opposeth the power of it and will not have it The Carnal mind is enmity against God Rom. 8.7 for he is not subject to the Law of God neither indeed can he he hath disabled himself from keeping it by making the Law impossible to him and himself impossible to the Law But the Sinner is over-ruled by the Will of the Flesh which orders him at pleasure and carries him captive to the Law of sin and sin being contrary to the Law of God must needs be a Law of Slavery for God's Law is a perfect Law of Liberty God's Law is a Royal Law but Sin 's is a Tyrannical Law and every Tyranny is Slavery V. Because Restrained from his proper State to be a Person Restraint from proper State Sin puts man from the Person of man When God formed him after his own Image Sin transformed him after the Image of a Beast and the Scripture brands him with the name of a beast profane a dog Cast not that which is holy unto dogs Mat. 7.6 Mat. 7.15 Beware of false Prophets which come to you in Sheeps cloathing but inwardly they are Ravening Wolves Herod called a Fox Go tell that Fox c. I have fought with beasts at Ephesus after the manner of men i. e. with railing Jews Chrys Theoph. Antichrist termed a Beast with seven Heads and ten Horns Satan the Author of sin called a Serpent or Dragon The Sinner in lower terms sunk to the dead legally dead in sin Let the dead i. e. Sinners bury their dead As Sin is a dead work that goes for no work so Sinner a dead person that goes for no person Restraint from proper Right VI. Because restrained from his proper Right i. e. the propriety of himself Is not Owner Master of himself Sin rules over him as a Lord over a slave Captivity Three waies a man loseth the Right over himself and becomes a slave by Birth by Captivity and by Sale Psal 51. 1. By Birth in sin I was conceived in sin and in iniquity did my Mother bring me forth For as the Rights of the Father so his Losses are conveyed to his Children by birth 2. By Captivity Captivity makes a slave of whom a man is overcome Ro. 7.23 of him he is brought in bondage carried captive to the law of Sin 3. By Sale he sells himself to sin Ahab sold himself to work wickedness in the sight of the Lord. I am sold under sin A sale made by Adam and all his Posterity Constraint to base Actions VII Because constrained to vile and base Actions As to be born in sin is true Bastardy so to commit sin is an act so base as it is all Baseness For as true Nobility consists only in Vertue so true Baseness consists in Vice Gen. 3.14 A Serpent is a base Creature goes basely creeping on his belly fares basely feeding on dust God's Curse An emblem of a Sinner A base service to serve a Beast to feed Swine and not be suffered to eat with them so is a Sinner A menstruous cloth is a base rag such is our righteousness stained with sin How filthy then is our sinfulness The vomit of a Dog is filthy such is Sin as when the Dog returneth to his vomit and the Swine that is washed to her wallowing in the mire The particular acts of Ambition Avarice and Filthiness such as that they must not be named Eph. 5.3 The CONTENTS Sin Satan TITLE XIII Of the Lord of Slavery THE Lord of slavery is Sin Servant of sin Of which sin The Lord of slavery Sin not of that he commits for that is actual sin which is the Sinner's work but the sinner is the servant of sin Original 1. Because sin Original is the lord and makes him a slave to work sin Actual Original sin is indeed in the godly not as a lord Sin shall not have dominion over them for they are not under the Law but under Grace But that sin is in them as a slave over whom they domineer They mortifie and crucifie it and make it a dying sin They that are Christs do crucifie the flesh with the affections and lusts But Original sin is in the sinner as a Lord an Inmate that domineers doth mortifie and crucifie the sinner till he be destroyed 2. Because Original sin restrains him from all his several properties from his proper end Eternal happiness from his proper guide a right Spirit from his proper act of choosing good and refusing evil from his proper rule the Law of God from his proper state a person after God's image from his proper right the propriety and possession of himself and constrains him to actual sins which are vile and base acts If the sinner be thus restrained to be a slave then Original sin that restrains him is his Lord because whatsoever restrains is Lord and Master over him that is restrained 3. Because Original sin reigns over the sinner She is a Tyrant usurping soveraignty and hath her Laws whereby to command him those laws are but several lusts i. e. her arbitrary will and pleasure Let not sin reign in your mortal bodies that ye should obey it in the lusts thereof In the godly it reigns not for they obey it not but in the sinner it reigns for he obeys it his servants ye are to whom ye obey whether it be to Sin or Righteousness If then thou obey Righteousness thou art a free servant but if Sin a bond-slave and the more willingly thou obeyest the more slave thou art II. But the Sinner's chief Lord is Satan The Prince of the Air Eph. 2.2 Satan the
another but to outward Mortification of the Body by Austerities of Fasting hard Lodging Pilgrimages Whippings and such Penances or to the Vertue of Crosses Holy-water Reliques of Saints Indulgences and Pardons by Bulls Masses Dirges Prayers of Saints Merits of their own or others and such like That by these God is perfectly reconciled and as often as they commit sin which they take no care to kill in their hearts they shall be forgiven by the Repetition of their former Penances and Carnal Services and so they run out their course of Life in Jewish and Heathenish Ordinances without regard to the Evangelical Spirit or Power of Godliness The vanity and folly of these men will quickly appear to all those that seriously read the New Testament Superstition 3. Others are alwaies upon Scruples and Doubts every thing troubles their Consciences and is called Superstition though it be harmless and commanded only for Order and Decency It is Superstition to lay the stress of Religion upon Outward Rites and Ceremonies and neglect the weightier Matters Justice and Judgment It is Superstition to make nothing at all of any Rites or Ceremonies and lay the stress of Religion in abhorring them utterly As if those outward things did either hallow or defile the Soul as if Salvation or Damnation depended upon the using or not using them The Kingdom of God and the Righteousness thereof consisteth not in Circumcision nor Uncircumcision in Eating or not Eating in Observation of Daies or not Observation of Daies in using of Ceremonies or not using them And therefore Negative Superstition is equal to Positive both alike calling off mens attentions from the main power of Godliness by ingaging them over-much about the use or disuse of small inconsiderable things 1 Cor. 7.19 Consider well these Scriptures Circumcision is nothing and Uncircumcision is nothing but the keeping of the Commandements of God The Kingdom of God is not meat and drink but righteousness and peace and joy in the Holy Ghost Rom. 14.17 18 For he that in these things serveth Christ is acceptable to God and approved of men Let us therefore follow after the things which make for peace and things wherewith one may edifie another for meat destroy not the work of God Rom. 14.2 c One believeth that he may eat all things another who is weak eateth herbs Let not him that eateth despise him that eateth not and let not him which eateth not judge him that eateh for God hath received him One man esteemeth one day above another another esteemeth every day alike Let every one be fully perswaded in his own mind He that regardeth a day regardeth it unto the Lord and he that regardeth not the day to the Lord he doth not regard it He that eateth eateth to the Lord for he giveth God thanks and he that eateth not to the Lord he eateth not and giveth God thanks Luke 17.21 The Kingdom of God is within you But the sober Christian that neither places the Substance of Religion in External Ordinances nor yet is Superstitiously Anti-ceremonial but thinks himself obliged to have a due regard to the Commands of lawful Authority in adiaphorous things and to preferr the Peace and Unity of the Church of Christ and the Observation of the Royal Law of Charity before the satisfaction of any private Interest of himself or any other And so he will be aware of that 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 which many run into by banishing away all the solemnity of External Worship under the notion of Ceremonies out of the World To conclude Unless there be a due and timely regard had to the Injunctions and Orders of lawful Authority in indifferent things for Order and Decency and Unity in the Church it may easily be foreseen that the Reformed Part of Christendom will at last be brought to confusion by crumbling so long into infinite Sects and Factions till it come to utter ruin 4. Natural Complexion for Divine Grace Some mistake the Vices of their Natural Complexion for Supernatural and Divine Graces As stupid Melancholy for Christian Mortification Turbulent and fiery Zeal for the Vigour of the Spirit Whereas Sadness Joy Zeal and Love are those 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 or 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 those harmless Passions or at least of a middle Nature neither good nor bad in themselves but which as they are circumstantiated with their several Adjuncts may indifferently become either Vertues or Vices There is a true Divine Zeal of Sorrow Joy Love Anger c. which is no Corybantick Extasie of Bacchanals but a sober calm and regular Heat of Passion guided and managed by Light and Prudence and is carried out principally neither for indifferent Rites and Opinions nor against them but for those things that are essentially good and fundamental to Religion alwaies acknowledging a due obedience to that Power Civil or Ecclesiastical which God hath set over us There was amongst the Jews a certain Right called Jus Zelotarum whereby private Persons by extraordinary impulse from God might do some extraordinary Acts of Peace or Warr to reward Vertue or Punish Vice which God under that Dispensation did permit As when Elias called for fire from Heaven upon the Captains and their Companies and Elisha slew the Children that called him bald Pate by Bears As when Phinehas slew Zimri and Cozbi and the Maccabes raised War against the Enemies of the Jews and Christ whipped the buyers and sellers out of the Temple And these men were never questioned by the Magistrates for it So that it was a kind of Legal or Regular thing yet so as in some cases of doubt they might be accountable to the Sanedrim and approved or punished as they saw cause for what they did But it is not so now nor may any such private Persons under the Dispensation of the Gospel take upon them to call fire from Heaven as the zealous Disciples would have done if they could or would have Christ to have done because they could not For Christ rebuketh them for it and tells them they know not what Spirit they are of So may not private Persons now presume they are called of God to reform publick Abuses in Church or State against the consent of Princes by making Vows or Covenants among themselves to take up Arms contrary to Laws or justifie any unwarrantable proceedings by their Zeal for God's Cause or to set Christ upon his Throne as they speak God needs no man's help to promote his ends by doing unjust things for him To speak wickedly for God or talk deceitfully for him or to do any Evil that Good may come thereof This is to mock God as one mocketh his Neighbour or to glorifie God by our Lyes as if God were a man that he should be mocked as if God were such a one as themselves and could do nothing without our help These are Dogmata Reipublicae noxia amongst many others Cavete Principes Rhetoricating
be enlarged to all places in the World and that not after this nor that manner of outward and carnal worship but after the only manner of inward and spiritual Service John 4.24 for God was a Spirit and therefore the true worshippers of God should always worship him in Spirit and in Truth From hence therefore the world is given to understand the two great Doctrines First That the true worship of God is onely Spiritual Secondly That there is greater perfection in Christianity than in Judaism or Heathenism Worship Spiritual 1. That the True Worship of God is only Spiritual Religion is a Spiritual service that is Prayers Praisings Eucharists Acts of Love Acts of Faith Acts of Hope Acts of Humility Fasting Alms c. Excepting the two Sacraments of Baptism and the Lord's Supper whose effects are Spiritual Sense mysterious Rites easie and number smallest I dare in meekness and charity challenge all perswasions to shew me if they can in the whole Digest of the Christian Law any other external Rite or Ceremony enjoyned or that is necessary that it should be enjoyned Reason Because as the Christian Religion intends wholly an exclusion of all Mosaick Ceremonies made by God so it will not admit of a Body of new and superinduced Rites made by men for they are or may be as much against the Analogy of the spiritual Worship of Jesus Christ as the body of Rites made by Moses and more because they were made by the Will of God but these meerly by the Wills of men Ceremonies The Ceremonies of the Christian Services may be Practised but must be no part of Religion it self but either the Circumstances thereof or the imperate acts of some moral Virtue As thus The Christian must be in some place when he prays and that place may and it is fit it should be determined by Authority for the publick prayers and thither he must go and yet for his private prayers he may go any where else And so for preaching And because the Religious actions of a Christian are finite therefore they must be done as in a place so at a time and that time may and it is fit it should be determined by Authority and then he must do his Devotions in publick at that time only but for his private devotions he may do them at any time else The Religious Actions of a Christian must be in some posture of his Body and that posture may be appointed and it is fit it should be appointed by Authority for the publick worship as to kneel or stand or bow c. and then he must do it in that posture that he is commanded in that publick place and yet he may use what postures he pleases at any other time or place for his private devotions And when the Christian comes to the publick place at the time appointed for Publick Prayer his prayers though in the Spirit must be of some form or manner of expressions by words and that form and manner of expressions by words may and it is fit it should be ordained by Authority for the whole Congregation openly and yet he may be and is at liberty to use what other form he pleases in his private addresses to God And this is enough to satisfie all those that have the true spirit of Christ who though he had no need of the Circumcision of the Law nor yet of the Baptism of the Gospel because there was no superfluity of evil to him to be cut off nor any stain of sin to be washed away yet he suffered himself to be circumcised and baptized and did obey that Law which he came to abolish and was subject to those Powers that were then over him in the world and quarrelled at nothing but was willing to fulfill all Righteousness And if our Fanaticks had the true spirit of Christ they would do as he did and be obedient to his Laws and to the Laws of the Powers that God hath set over them The Differences betwixt the Mosaick Rites under the Law and the Christian Rites Difference of Mosaick and of Christian Rites besides what Christ himself hath ordained under the Gospel are these 1. The Mosaick Rites were only appointed by God but these Christian Rites are appointed by men 2. They were necessary parts of that Religion that then was so far as it was discerned but these are not 3. The Mosaick Ceremonies did oblige every where but the Christian only in publick 4. They were integral parts of the Jewish Religion but these are but circumstances and investitures of our Religious Actions 5. They were done all of them in the spirit of Bondage and great fear but ours are done in the Spirit of Liberty and great Love They were lasting as long as that Religion was to last but ours are alterable though our Religion be everlasting 7. They were many and burdensome and very costly for they were at greater charges to buy Cattel c. for the Sacrifices and the Priests and Levites were as Butchers and Porters and Cooks to knock down Oxen or cut the throats of Calves c. and slay them c. but ours are few and easie and cheap but neither theirs nor ours did or ever will please God The sum is the Ceremonies of Christians they may be the accidents of their worship they must be no more but a just investiture of Time Place Form Habit and Posture He that would have his body decently vested must not wear five and twenty Cloaks a Stole and a Tunick will suffice some thing for warmth and something for ornament does well But as the tender and delicate Woman that will scarcely vouchsafe to set her foot upon the ground for delicateness and tenderness and thinks no ornaments curious enough for her head and the rest of her body makes it the work of half a day to dress and deck her self is a slave to her fine trinkets and thinks neither her Soul nor Body but her habiliments to be the principal part of her care So they that are superstitious and over much righteous in Will-worship and count no formalities nor bodily exercises enough to set out their Devotions are servants to their Beads and trumperies and think not of the substance of Religion but make the out sides thereof the principal part of their care Church of Rome Thus the Church of Rome whose Ceremonies are described in a great Book in folio Quem mea vix totum Bibliotheca capit and my purse strings will not stretch to buy it And although by such means Religion is made pompous and apâ—â—o allure them that admire their gay nothing yet then it also spends their Religious passions and wonderments in that which effects nothing upon the Soul The Priest must be intent upon his Rubrick that he miss nothing of his Bowings Crosses Anointings Sprinklings Perfumes c. and the people are taken up with staring upon the dumbe Images the Larges and the Priests
quarrelling and sit still and consider these points we should in time understand them sufficiently by our own experience better than they do that dispute of them daily We are prone to nothing but evil Object Flesh is prone to evil by exceeding the bounds of reason Solut. but Reason it self tends another way With my mind I serve the Law of God Rom. 7.25 Rom. 7.22 23. but with my flesh the Law of sin I delight in the Law of God after the inward Man but I see another Law in my members warring against the Law of my mind and bringing me into captivity to the Law of sin that is in my members Adam's faculties were corrupted so are ours Object Both true in a safe sense and if these safe senses were admitted Solut. all would agree but there is though not acknowledged Pride Interest and uncharitableness in the way that obstructs this universal good that would be both in Church and State But who can help it it must be born only wise Men and honest Men will be no slaves SECT III. We are made mortal in Adam Not actually by dying in his body and with his body Corol. 2. All mortal in Adam for we sprang from his body before dead but causatively by descent from his made mortal body As he sinned for himself so we sin for our selves Reason And as he died for himself so we die for our selves But his sin was not ours and his death was not ours but only the cause of our sin and the cause of our death Mortalis gignit mortalem Immortalis gignit immortalem Servus gignit servos Nobilis gignit Nobiles Fortes creantur fortibus Morbosi creantur à morbosis Infamis non gignit infamem Sed Peccator non gignit peccatorem Doctus non gignit Doctum Innocens non gignit innocentem In true and safe senses some Natural some Jural A Mortal begets a Mortal An Immortal begets an Immortal Cum grano salis Deus de Deo Servants beget servants Free-Men beget Free-Men Nobles beget Nobles Strength begets strength Weakness begets weakness Infamous doth not beget infamous But a sinner begets not a sinner A Learned Man begets not a Learned Man A virtuous Man begets not a virtuous Man SECT IV. Corol. 3. Righteous in Christ We are made righteous in Christ i. e. Accounted Reason 1 Christ's righteousness was not individually ours nor is our righteousness individually his nor can any person's qualities be communicated to another Reason 2 Nature made us in Adam Grace makes us in Christ Bodies were in Adam not Souls Souls are in Christ not Bodies One Man's will is not really in anothers Sin is in Soul not Body Death is in Body not Soul Righteousness is in Soul not Body We are born of the Bodies not of the Souls of our Parents SECT V. Corol. 4. Immortal in Christ Reason We are immortal in Christ by Christ's Body Christ's immortality was not individually ours as our immortality is not individually his But we are made immortal by his immortality 1 Cor. 15.22 As in Adam we all die so in Christ all are made alive Souls were not in Adam's Soul Souls are not in Christ's Soul Bodies are not in Christ's Body Our persons were not in Adam's person Our persons are not in Christ's person Our bodies seminally in Adam's body i. e. not to act in Adam but fast asleep in him as their cause Our Souls not at all in Adam's Soul but created apart and infused by God So the acts of Adam's body were not the acts of our bodies So the acts of Adam's Soul were not the acts of our Souls So the acts of Christ's body were not the acts of our bodies So the acts of Christ's Soul were not the acts of our Souls SECT VI. Every Individual body naturally acts for it self Every Individual Soul naturally acts for it self Corol. 5. Reason Every Individuum acts for its self Ez. 18. And is rewarded or punished for it self The Soul that sinneth it shall die Fathers eat sowre grapes Children's teeth not set an edge Every mortal individual is mortal for it self Every immortal individual is immortal for it self Every individual is good for it self Every individual is bad for it self So in a right sense 1. We are made Sinners by Adam's sin 2. We are made Righteous by Christ's Righteousness 3. We are made Mortal by Adam's mortality 4. We are made Immortal by Christ's Immortality If any Man can express these things better let him a God's Name I shall be glad to learn One Touch more and then I have done Adam's body the root and seed of our bodies Adam's Soul not the root nor seed of our Souls Adam's body acted for it self Adam's Soul acted for it self Our bodies act for themselves Our Souls act for themselves Ergo Adam's virtues were not ours Adam's vices were not ours Adam's rewards were not ours Adam's punishments were not ours Rules Unusquisque habet judicium pro semetipso Unusquisque habet voluntatem pro semetipso Unusquisque habet passiones pro semetipso Unusquisque habet actiones pro semetipso Every one hath a judgment for himself Every one hath a will for himself Every one hath passions for himself Every one hath actions for himself Individuals communicate not their actions or passions but are distinct as their persons Sin is not Nature Nature is not Sin Righteousness is not Nature Nature is not Righteousness The Close Natural actions of Body and Soul reach not beyond the person that acts them Moral actions extend not beyond the person that acts them Jural actions do extend beyond the persons that act them for punishment or reward by act of Law or Grace c. SECT VI. Once more and use it not I beg leave to review the triple distinction that I made of a Sinner Sinner Legal 1. A Sinner Legally is a transgressor and offender against the rules of the Law in not doing that right whereto the Law binds him and he that doth not right according to the Law he is unrighteous and a person unrighteous is a sinner Such sinners were the sinners of the Gentiles who lived in idolatry such a sinner was the Woman who washed the feet of Christ with her tears Joh. 7.37 and wiped them with the hair of her head and kissed them and anoynted them with oyntment for she was an adulteress Such a sinner was the Woman taken in Adultery in the very act and was therefore brought by the Scribes and Pharisees unto Christ to be stoned to death John 8.3 4. And this kind of sinner who is a transgressor of the Law is opposed to the person who is legally righteous by doing that right which the Law requireth SECT VII Sinner Moral 2. A sinner Morally quoad mores is a Trespasser offending against the rules of Good manners of Humanity Equity Charity Mercy and Courtesy not dealing handsomly or kindly not doing that right whereto the rule of
still very shy to be kept they can hardly be lookt upon or handled they are desultorious and slippery and long to be gone from us But God sticks by us and delights to dwell with us A Servant abideth not in the house Joh. 8.35 but the Son abideth for ever Wisdom invites and courts all to her embraces O ye simple how long will ye love simplicity and ye fools delight in scorning Get wisdom get understanding wisdom shall preserve you understanding shall keep you Put her on as a Robe as a Crown as ornaments of gold and pretious stones and keep her as thy life God is not lapt up in the Ephod for the Priest alone nor wrapped up in the Diadem for the Prince alone All are equally concerned to enjoy God as well he that groveleth on the dunghil as he that sits on the Throne as well the dweller in the smoky Cottage as the Lord of stately Palaces The Gospel is preached to every Creature his Messengers are equally sent to the Captains and Scribes as to the common Souldiers that sit on the Wall God is no respecter of persons but in every Nation he that feareth him and worketh righteousness is accepted of him Christ disdained not the society of Publicans and Sinners and the Kingdom of Heaven is pressed into by all sorts and the violent take it by force SECT XIII Good lovely 3. Because Good is lovely and amiable to all and praised by the worst because Nature teacheth all Men to reverence Virtue though they choose the contrary It striketh an awe into those that scorn it A Man of God a Magistrate carries such gravity in his Countenance and habit and Majesty in his life and Calling that his presence will daunt the stoutest Atheists and Ranters and stop their oathes and lewdness till Cato be gone they start at him and beg of him to depart out of their coast and pray him not to come among them to torment them The preaching of Paul of Justice and Judgment made Felix tremble Bonum tunc vincit cum laeditur tunc intelligitur cum arguitur When good is most opposed she conquers most and is then understood when she is reproved so hard a thing it is to loose the Instinct of Nature which when put by will come on with the greater force to our greater conviction and shame in refusing that good which is so obvious and easie to be practised and hunt after that evil which is more remote and painful to be performed Herod was troubled to cut of John Baptist's head because it was unjust and dishonorable yet for his Oath 's sake and those that were with him and to please a wanton Damsel in Point of Honour falsely so called he commanded it to be done contrary to his conscience and was troubled after he had done it when hearing of the famous works of Christ he cryed out it was John the Baptist that was risen from the dead Christ's innocency evicted Pilate's heart while his tongue condemned him saying to the People Be it as you require And yet he could not but say I find no fault in this Man The malice of Tyrants raged against the Martyrs to kill them while their innocency acquitted them even in the Judgments of their murtherers fain would they have spar'd their lives if they would but conform to their idolatrous courses so contrary to nature for an Idol is nothing there is no reason in Nature for it nor in many other things which unreasonable and unnatural Men presume to do Wicked Men are glad when they can get companions in their sins and glory most when for fear of torments they can bring godly Men over to their ungodly courses thinking thereby to strengthen themselves in their sin and to salve their own sores and lull the loud cries of their conscience condemning them for what they do What Traitor ever praised Rebellion and what Devil will not commend a Saint Let me die the death of the Righteous saith the most profane and let my last end be like unto his yet they will not give themselves leave to do that which in reason they allow to be good and just so strongly are Men confuted by themselves and so powerful is the Law of Nature in all Men. Besides what satisfaction ever had any wicked Man in his wicked courses Eat drink and be merry take thine ease let loose the reins to all licentiousness beat at every bush crown thy head with Rose-buds before they be withered taste of all the delights of the Sons of Men will this do in the midst of laughter the heart is sorrowful Vanity of vanities saith even Nature it self all is vanity and vexation of Spirit Nothing can fill the heart but God nothing can comfort but a good conscience Lastly to make all sure remember that undeniable principle of Reason mentioned in the first Book and first Title of the first Volume to be written with Letters of Gold and to be engraven in the Rock with the point of a Diamond for ever which is this That every Action that is in our Power to do or not to do is imputable to us and may justly be imputed to us by God or Man But on the contrary every Action that is not in our power to do or not to do is not imputable unto us nor can be justly imputed to us by God or Man That is not of debt to the hurt of any but of Grace it may be imputed for their good For favours may be imputed where they are not due But sins and plagues can never be imputed but only where they are due The Rule is unquestionable It is impossible rightly to lay the guilt of sin upon any Man unless he by his own individual Act of will hath made himself guilty of the transgression of a known Law If this be true then consider what rightly follows Vide l. 7. T. 3. of Christ's feudal Kingdom Sect. A publick person c. SECT XIV Argumenta Laciniata Aculeata 1. God pardoned Adam's sin upon his repentance Ergo he suffered not for it any more than a temporal death which was threatned him how then shall his Children be unpardoned and suffer any more than a temporal death threatned in Adam to all his posterity 2. Our Birth is involuntary and without our knowledg how then born in sin involuntary and unknown except God by decree included our knowledg and wills by interpretation How can these things be No being no life no Action no Understanding no Will. Then we must charge God who makes us consent before we were or could consent 3. Our will was fast asleep in its causes The cause of our will is God's will not Adam's will The Soul is immediately created and infused by God Ergo was not in Adam's Soul 4. God did not punish the Devils but for their own most perfect choice why are Men punished for no choice 5. If Adam had notice of the Law what notice had we
can possibly be reckoned or accounted from another Man as that the use-fruit or propriety thereof should belong to me and no other No right can be imputed or reckoned to any Man's Virtues or vices which are the qualities and habits of his Soul no more than the temper features or proportion of his Body can be accounted to another But Rights adherent unto things to have use and enjoy them may and are with very good reason accounted and reckoned unto such or such Persons As by Birth Labour Purchase Donation or Usuâ—apion are qualified for them The summe is God by his Promise counted to Abraham a right not for his Birth generous nor for his Works righteous but for his acceptation of Faith Jus fidei 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Rom. 3.14 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Ro. 4.11 13. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Ro. 9.30 Faith-right is opposed to Birth-right Work-right Purchase-right Gift-right or any other Right To all Rights Accounting is the common Genus that is to the species of justifying or condemning Rights for both these are acts of accounting either to justify Men to some good by giving to them a reward or to condemn Men to some evil by inflicting on them some punishment or taking their Rights away and laying contrary hardships upon them SECT VI. Reason 4. Abraham was legally and morally righteous before he believed the Promise and yet he was not justified by that Righteousness But when once the Promise was made by God and accepted by Abraham then was created unto him a Right which he never had nor could have before to a numberless Issue and plentiful Inheritance to an Alliance and Friendship with God and to an exceeding great reward which he had not here And therefore he looked for a City whose builder and maker is God Heb. 11.10 And he desired a better Countrey than the Land of Canaan was even a Heavenly And so did the Patriarchs who had not their portion in this life Heb. 11.16 but wandered up and down in Deserts and in Mountains and in Caves of the Earth clothed with sheep skins and Goatskins being destitute afflicted and tormented of whom the World was not worthy wherefore God was not ashamed to be called their God for he hath prepared for them a City and he is not the God of the Dead but of the Living I conclude therefore as far as I am able to conceive being ready to learn better that all Rights that do arise unto any Person from a promise are convey'd to that Person by his Faith or which is all one his Faith is reckoned unto him to be the means to give him Right to the thing promised and be he never so Righteous or Holy otherwise this is not nor cannot be imputed or reckoned to him to give him any Right as to God and his Rewards but Faith only Hitherto hath been treated the Righteousness of Man which is the stream now in humility I approach to God who is the Fountain from which all Righteousness is derived SECT VII God is only Righteous yea Righteousness it self There is none good but God who hath all Right and doth all Right God Righteous All that have Right and do all right both have it and do it from God they are of God and do the works of God that have any jural or legal or do any moral Righteousness Satan only is unrighteous and wickedness it self not having any jural or legal nor doing any moral Righteousness he hath no right and doth all wrong All that are unrighteous have it and do it from Satan As to have no good by Jural Righteousness and to do no good by Moral Righteousness Ye are of your Father the Devil because you do the works of your Father All Righteousness of God is by Faith and all unrighteousness of Satan is by infidelity SECT VIII 1. God is Legally Righteous the Fountain of Law and Justice Legally The Judgment is Gods he sitteth amongst Princes The Judg of all the World must needs do right Just and true are thy waies O King of Saints that thou mightst be justified when thou speakest Ps 51.4 and clear when thou judgest SECT IX 2. God is Morally Righteous the Fountain of Mercy and Pity Morally whose Mercies are above all his works He doth abundantly pardon and pass by iniquities transgressions and sins and remembers them no more SECT X. Jurally 3. God is Jurally Righteous the Fountain of all Lordship and Dominion that hath the Allodium the absolute direct soveraign Dominion of the whole world over all owners Lords and Kings by right of Creation all other Lords holding of him and he only of himself To Mankind God hath granted the utile Dominium the Usufruct and Emphyteusis of the World in fee under him and they performing the condition of Faith Homage and Allegiance to him their Liege Lord upon them he hath setled the Heavenly Inheritance And for the better Conveyance and assurance of this settlement God after the manner of Men ordained his last Will and Testament and confirmes it by the death of Jesus Christ that it might never be revoked and disannulled and justifies them to all the Rights and Legacies therein contained by the Title of their Faith Transition of which Justification we come now to speak in its proper place The Third BOOK OF JUSTIFICATION The CONTENTS The Term Justify Accounting Synonyma Bondage Freedom Burden Corporation Other names TITLE I. Of the Name of Justification THE Term Justifie 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 signifies three things Term. 1. To make upright 2 To make kind 3. To make a proprietary or owner two waies 1. Declaratively by Sentence in Judgment to do Men right not to justifie the wicked The doers of the Law shall be justified Rom. 2.13 2. Efficiently by free donation i. e. to be Jurified 1. Procreantly My righteous Servant shall justifie many i. e. shall give them a right By the obedience of one many are made righteous 3. Conservantly to hold right Thus Abraham was justified by works after he was justified and created righteous by Faith Ja. 2.24 25. For by works a Man is justified and not by Faith only So Rahab was justified by her works Faith gives right works declare and keep right Works are a sign to shew Faith and a cause to conserve Faith from being a dead Faith The Term Justifie and Justified in English is a Latinisme in Greek 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Ro. 5.19 made Righteous 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 in Italian Constituted just in French Rendred just To Justifie is to declare a Man guiltless or to pardon and give him a right to have and to hold all those rights whereof condemnation would deprive him Ps 82.3 should Sentence of Law be given against him Defend the poor and Fatherless do justice to the afflicted and needy The Latin saith Humilem pauperem justificate Justifie the oppressed and poor vulgar English
the good will of the Imputer that bestows it and our own good will who accept it The want of this distinction makes many run aside first into confusion and then into contention but the clear understanding and application thereof settles the controversie into peace and quietness So Righteousness is imputed and Sin is imputed and Reward is imputed and punishment is imputed so Works are imputed for Righteousness and for a Reward of debt and Faith is imputed for Righteousness and for a Reward of Grace In a word as for imputation of sin it comes by the Law through works and for imputation of Righteousness it comes by the Gospel through Faith The Law curses and condemns the Sinner the Gospel blesses and justifies the ungodly No Law was ever made to justifie that must be grace nor Grace was ever made to condemn that must be Law Moses's yoke is intolerable for condemnation to death Christ's yoke is easie for justification to Life Let Christ therefore live that we may live also in him and by him But let Moses die and be buried and his Sepulchre never be found The CONTENTS Right Corporation Impunity Liberty Provision Protection Audience Alliance Resurrection Jurisdiction Glory Rights of Christ Expectation Supplication Possession TITLE III. Of the matter of Justification THe matter of Justification is Rights A Right is whereby some benefit is made ours Matter of Justification Right There is a difference between Right and Righteousness Righteousness is a moral word signifying a virtue or habit to do that good and right which Law prescribes and it is opposed to unrighteousness and sinfulness which is a vice and habit of doing that evil and wrong which Law forbids But Right is a Jural word signifying the having holding and enjoying of some benefit and good which some Law settles upon us and makes to be ours And this is opposed to a Burthen or charge signifying the having holding and suffering of some grievance and evil which some Law also settles upon us and makes ours In every Kingdom there are diverse rights as the right of Liberty to be a Free-man a Member of a Corporation of suffrage to have a voice in Elections of Family to succeed to an Inheritance of Honour to have a precedency and take place of Power to give Judgment and do justice of Office to perform some function and service of Benefice to have and enjoy some profits and generally all Capacities Abilities Augmentations Honours Degrees Rewards c. are Benefits and Rights There are also in every Kingdom diverse wrongs and burthens quite contrary and privative to those As the burthen of slavery that deprives a Man of liberty of Banishment that deprives a Man of some Corporation of Bastardy that deprives him of his Family of Infamy that deprives him of Honour c. and generally all Incapacities Disabilities Diminutions Degradations and Penalties are Burthens and Wrongs In every Family there are diverse Rights Matrimony a state of right whereby the Husband and the Wife have a right to each others Bed and Board and over each others Bodies Children and Estates 1 Cor. 7.4 Primogeniture is a state of right to succeed to the whole inheritance of the Father Cleanness was a state of right to enter into the Congregation and partake of the Sacrifice Ministery a state of right to preach the word and apply the Sacraments Righteousness in Scripture many times is put for a right As Abraham believed in God Rom. 4.3 and it was accounted to him for righteousness i. e. for a right For God promised Abraham a Blessing that Eliezer his servant should not be his heir but that he should have a Son and Heir of his own Body and that his Seed should be as the stars of Heaven for multitude Abraham believed in God for this Promise and Blessing and his Faith was counted for righteousness or gave him a right and title to this Blessing Had not Abraham believed God i. e. had he not accepted of God's promise God's promise had been a dead offer to him and Abraham had had no right at all unto it But his Faith i e. his acceptance of the promise gave him a right to claim and enjoy the Blessing And Abraham received the Sign of Circumcision a Seal of the righteousness of the faith which he had yet being uncircumcised i. e. of the right of Faith for Seals are not signs of moral righteousness but of jural rights for Seals are put to conveyances and evidences and other writings to testifie matters of right So by Circumcision he had now God's Seal to that Grant which God had formerly made to him And v. 13. The promise that Abraham should be the heir of the World was not to him through the Law but through the righteousness of Faith i. e. through the right by faith That is the right of inheritance promised came not to him by any right that the Law gave him but by the right which his faith gave him Contrarily the word unrighteousness in Scripture many times is put for wrong Luc. 16.8 The Lord commended the unjust Steward in the Original the Steward of unrighteousness i. e. the Steward that was not right vers 9. The Mammon of unrighteousness Luc. 18.6 i. e. the Mammon that is not the right riches Hear what the unjust Judg saith in the Original the Judg of unrighteousness Gen. 18.25 i. e. Judg that did not do right but wrong Shall not the Judg of all the World do right in the Original shall he not do righteousness Ps 4.1 Hear me O God of my righteousness i. e. my true and right God for other gods were false and wrong gods And ver 5. Offer the Sacrifices of righteousness i. e. the right Sacrifices what those Sacrifices are he specifies afterwards as the Sacrifice of Thanksgiving and of a broken heart Oblations and Burnt-offerings were not the right Sacrifices but Thanksgiving and Contrition Thou satest in the Throne of judging right Ps 9.4 Math. 21.32 in the Original in the Throne of judging righteousness John came unto you in the way of righteousness i. e. in the right way SECT I. Corporation The matter of our Justification is a right of Incorporation into God A Corporation is a Body in Law As besides Natural Parents there are Parents in Law so besides Natural Bodies there are Bodies in Law Diverse Persons united into one and communicating in good or evil are one Body and prosper or suffer together If one member suffer all the members suffer with it or if one member be honoured all the members rejoyce with it 1 Cor. 12.26 A Family is a Corporation Husband and Wife are one Body Father and Children are one Body A Kingdom is one Body A Church is one Body These partake of wealth and honour Sin or punishment Their Heads are mutually augmented or diminished because they are one Body In a Corporation some Persons have no right because they
excitatum à mortuis ac proptereà verum esse quae Dei nomine sive praecipiendo sive promittendo nobis attulit Interim verum est iis qui à vitiis purgati sunt Deum condonare vetera crimina idque propter Christum qui id nobis obtinuit Neque enim Deus tenebatur ea condonare Nisi autem Deus nobis condonasset peccata non daret nobis donum illud Summum quod in hac vitâ hominibus contingere potest Spiritum nimirum Sanctum Id enim paterni amoris quidem summi certum est Testimonium Huc tendere quae dicit Paulus hunc ejus esse sensum tum ex vi vocum tum ex serie sermonis apertum nos in Annotatis nostris facturos confidimus Interim oro eos qui dubitant legant Graecos Chrysostomum OEcumenicum Theophylactum aut Latinos etiam Ambrosium Hieronymum reperient eos id sensisse quod dico Quid verò mirum est si Deus pro justitiâ suâ approbat eam Justitiam quam ipse in nobis fecit quae propterea Justitia Dei dicitur quaeque legalem illam omnem ex viribus humanis profectam multis modis superat Non enim potest non amare quod suum est Nec cum Deus ita per se ad se conversos spectat eos spectat ut peccatores quomodo scilicet ea vox in Scripturis sumitur sed ut à peccatis purgatos liberatos Et inde oritur laeta illa pax conscientiae quia talibus Deus ut jam diximus propter Christum promisit priorum criminum indulgentiam Neque verò directè apud Paulum opponuntur accusare justificare sicut neque directè opposita sunt que sequuntur damnare eos pro eis precari Sed fit haec oppositio per consequentiam quandam Isti qui nos apud humana Tribunalia accusant homines sunt miseri cum Deus sit is qui nos Justos videat ut justos amet Damnamur ad poenas sed à quibus nempe à Mortalibus At Christus immortalis is est qui perpetuo causam nostram Deo Patri commendat Tribunal Christi est Tribunal Dei Ibi ex quibus rebus simus judicandi dixit Christus Matth. 25.34 35. Paulo omnibus qui adventum Christi amarunt reddetur corona Justitiae nempe quia praeclarum certamen certarunt cursum perfecerunt fidem servarunt 2 Tim. 4.7 Novatiana causa huic non pertinet neque enim dicimus post Baptismum lapsis omnibus praeclusam à Deo veniam aut reditum ad Ecclesiam Hinc autem gloria omnis Justitiae quae in Christianis reperitur ad Deum Christum redit Fides enim Dei Donum per Christum non ex operibus sed ex vocante Et hoc est Justitiae semen fructus autem omnis censetur in semine Quà m facilis autem hîc sit reconciliatio si absint tricae Scholasticae alienus à pace animus ostendit Bucerus in Psalmum 2. Mr. Thornd l. 2. p. 248. I must here presume that this sense of the imputation of Christ's merits and therefore this intent of his death is meerly imaginary And the supposition whereupon it proceeds to wit that one Mans doings or sufferings may be personally and immediately imputed to another Mans account is utterly unreasonable And therefore must and do say That as it is sufficient so it is true that the sufferings of Christ are imputed unto us in the nature of a meritorious cause moving God to grant Mankind those terms of Reconcilement which the Gospel importeth Mr. Faringd 2. Vol. S. 20 p. 811. As the Philosophers agree there was a Chief-good and Happiness which Man might attain to but could not agree what it was so it hath fallen out with Christians They all consent that there is mercy with God that we may be saved They make remission of sins an Article of their Creed But then they rest not here but to the covering of their sins require a garment of Righteousness of their own thred and spinning to the blotting out of their sins some bloud and some virtue of their own and to the purging them out some infused habit of inherent Righteousness And so by their interpretations and additions and Glosses they leave this Article in a cloud than which the day it self is not clearer As Astronomers when a new Star appeareth in their Hemisphere dispute and altercate till that Star go out and remove it self out of their sight So have we disputed and talked Justification and remission of sins almost out of sight For there is nothing more plain and even without rub or difficulty nothing more open to the eye and yet nothing at which the quickest apprehensions have been more dazled It hath been the fault of Christians when the Truth lay in their way Justification to pass it by or leap over it and to follow some fancies and imaginations of their own Nor was this Doctrine only blemished by those monsters of Men who sate down and consulted and do deliberately give sentence against the Truth but received some blot and stain from their hands who were the stoutest Champions for it Who though they saw the Truth and did acknowledg it yet let that fall from their Pews which posterity after took up to obscure this Doctrine and would not rest content with that which is as much as we can desire and more than we can deserve remission of sins Hence it was that we were taught in the Schools That Justification is a change from a state of unrighteousness to a state of Righteousness That as in every motion there is a leaving of one Term to acquire another so in Justification there is expulsion of sin and infusion of Grace Which is most true in the concrete but not in the abstract in the justified Person but not in Justification which is an act of God alone From hence these 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 those unsavoury and undigested conclusions of the Church of Rome that to justifie a Sinner is not to pronounce but to make him just That the Formal cause of Justification is Inherent sanctity that our Righteousness before God consisteth not only in Remission of sins that we may redeem our sins as well as Christ we from temporal as he from eternal pain And then this Petition must run thus Forgive us our Trespasses that is make us so just that we may need no forgiveness Forgive us the breach of the law because we have kept the Law forgive us our sins for our good works Forgive me my intemperance for my often fasting my incontinency for my zeal my oppression for my alms my murther for the Abby and Hospital which I built my fraud my malice my oppression for the many Sermons I have heard A conceit which I fear findeth more room and friendly entertainment in those hearts which are soon hot at the very mention of Popery and Merit In