which I must speak to not stopping at Human Argument unbacked with Authority of Scripture The one is Acts 13.38 Be it known unto you Men and Brethren that through this Man is preached to you Forgiveness of Sins And by him all that believe are justified from all things from which ye could not be justified by the Law of Moses For this Text I have forelaid a Distinction with some Reference in my Mind to it There is a double Remission I have said a Remission that precedes Justification and a Remission that comes after it That which goes before Justification belongs to All but upon Condition and that is this Remission which in the former Verse of the two is Preached by the Apostle A Universal Conditional Remission and all one with Redemption This now being Preached to all some believe and perform the Condition and as it follows in the other Verse are accordingly justified and then this General Conditional Pardon before Preached becomes Absolute or Actual to such Particular Persons and they are thereby free from the Guilt and Punishment of all their Sins whatsoever even such as there was no Attonement allowed to be made by the Law of Moses The Law or Covenant of the Gospel promises Pardon and Life upon Condition He that performs the Condition hath Right to the one and the other but a Man must be Justified before he is Glorified and therefore before pardoned also There is a Pardon procured by Christ granted and passed by God we must suppose as an Act of Grace passing in Parliament This Pardon is given out orderly The Condition must be performed the Judge find it and then the Man hath the Benefit This aforesaid Distinction therefore is exemplified in this Text and seeing there is no Particular Actual Pardon 'till Man's Believing and God's Justification which is his accounting or declaring him a Believer do orderly intervene as to the Course of the Nature of the Thing it is plain that Remission this Remission as well as the other is not Justification itself but a Benefit of the Covenant that as Conditional goes before but as Actual or Absolute which is that a Particular Man enjoys does follow Justification I must say still as the Effect of it The other Text is in Rom. 4. where Paul shewing that it is not by Works but by Faith that we are justified after Abraham's Example he lays down this Position That not to him that worketh but believeth his Faith is accounted for Righteousness And then in the next Verse coming to bring Proof from David he ushers it in these Words Even as David also described the Blessedness of that Man unto whom God imputeth Righteousness without Works whereby it is plain indeed that he intends the same thing by God's counting to a Man his Faith for Righteousness and imputing to him Righteousness without Works that is such Works Meritorious Works Perfect Works which Paul in the Verses before undoubtedly intends But it is not so in the Quotation itself which thus follows Blessed are they whose Iniquities are forgiven and Sins covered Blessed is the Man to whom the Lord will not impute Sin It is a mistake here in those many who think this Non-imputation of Sin in this Verse is the same with the imputing Righteousness without Works and Faith for Righteousness in the former St. Paul does intend indeed those two before for one but this he intends only for a Probation He proves that God imputes Righteousness to a Man without Works or Faith for Righteousness by this Medium that they are blessed who are forgiven Now however these Words are construed this is no Definition of Justification by Faith without Works but I say a Probation The Man is blessed whose Sin is pardoned The Man therefore hath Sin to be forgiven He that hath Sin hath not Works such as Paul speaks of to justifie him If the blessed Man then be a justified Man it is evident thereupon that it is not by Works one is justified However from a Probation this Identity cannot be argued They are blessed in one Verse to whom Righteousness is imputed without Works They are blessed in another to whom God imputeth not Sin Ergo Non-imputation of Sin and imputing Righteousness without Works are the same I deny the Argument Blessed are they that hear the Word and keep it Blessed are they whose Sins are forgiven Ergo Hearing and obeying the Word is Forgiveness of Sin But leaving such Pushpin of Pro and Con I will take up with this That which is made a Medium or the Medius Terminus to prove another thing cannot be that thing or intended for the same thing that it proves And seeing the Quotation out of the Psalmist The Man is blessed whose Sins are forgiven is brought by the Disputant for a Probation of his Point in hand that a Man is justified by Faith and not by Works I am sufficiently perswaded that Non-imputation of Sin or Pardon is not intended by him to be the same thing with Justification If any require more Consideration in regard to these two Texts let him read a Book called The Christian Justification stated I need say no more but thus much which is not said there or throughly comprehended by that Author I know indeed and will not pass it that Mr. Truman a Man of a bright Judgment defines Justification as Mr. Wotton by Pardon only and says that Justification is no more or hath no more in it than Pardon and therefore is all one with it This in regard to the common Opinion which says it is more defining it by the Imputation of Christ's Righteousness as well as Forgiveness of Sin is to the purpose But what if I say Pardon is more than Justification then is it nothing to me For whether Justification be more than Pardon or Pardon more than Justification if one be more than the other they are not the same Now Pardon is a Fruit or Benefit of Justification and a Thing alone is not so much as the Thing and its Benefit Pardon and Life makes up Salvation for Salvation from Wrath is Pardon and to Glory is Life but Salvation coming after is a farther Blessing and more indeed than Justification only Pardon Mr. Truman says farther of all Sins he means both of Omission and Commission puts a Man in that State as if he had offended the Law in nothing and that is all one with a State as if he had performed the Law in every thing and therefore Pardon and Justification are the same Our Divines he opposes deny these States to be one Though they be consequentially one they are in their Nature different Pardon is of the Guilty Justification of him that pleads Not Guilty But I will suppose Mr. Truman in the right and that Pardon puts a Man in a State as if he had trespassed in nothing which Quoad rearum poenae is true and consequently as if he had obeyed in all things And therefore do I deny Justification
Jew in the Second yet hath he such a Faith as belongs to the first such as the Ancients before Abraham had and so long as that Faith he hath does work by Love or by sincere Obedience to God according to his Light it will justifie him as well as that which is now farther required of us under the Gospel So my Book call'd The Axe laid to the Root of Separation p. 4. From Faith or Trust in God ' Goodness Grace or Mercy which any in every Nation that feared God and wrought Righteousness had thus to be accepted and pardoned before they knew this Ground or Foundation upon which the Righteousness thereof does stand to that Faith we have now who do know it From that Faith they had in God to save them of his Free Grace before the knowledge or our clearer knowledge of Christ and our Redemption by him to that Faith we have now to save us by the same Free Grace through the Redemption that is in Christ Jesus Ye believe in God says Christ believe also in me where is a Faith and a Faith Consequently from Faith that is a believing in God to a Faith which is a believing in him through Christ the Foundation of our Faith upon the Revelation of the Gospel Even the Righteousness of God which is by Faith of Jesus Christ to wit since he is revealed Upon these words Mr. Rutherford supposing the Righteousness of Christ to be the formal Righteousness that justifies us thus opposes If our Righteousness and inherent Obedience may be of Grace esteemed formal Righteousness before God by a free Evangelick Paction and an Act of God's Free Will there is no need of Christ's Satisfaction Cou. Op. p. 172 173. I answer This Learned Man hath I account here understandingly exprest the very thing as it is and that he gives for the Reason of his denial is the very Ground upon which this Righteousness as I have explained it is made good If it were not for this Satisfaction of Christ there could be no such Righteousness on God's part or on Ours God should deal with us in his strict Justice and no Man be found righteous accounted or dealt with as so in the Earth But seeing upon this Satisfaction of Christ God may be righteous and abate the Terms as they were in one Covenant and impute them however for Righteousness by another we see how our Evangelick Obedience is indeed the Formal when Christ's Righteousness is the Meritorious Cause of our Justification Our Justification I must say passively taken that is the Formal Cause or Formal Reason or Form itself of that Righteousness whereby we are justified That which we do our selves through Grace or the Spirit acting us is this our Formal Righteousness and that is the Condition of our Justification actively taken and so of the Impunity and Life that follow as the Fruits of it That we may not stray here but keep our Middle-Way between the Extreams of Papist and Protestant we must distinguish Remission and Justification The Papists say Justification is Remission and Regeneration the Protestants say it is Remission and the Imputation of Christ's Righteousness When both then make Remission to be but part of Justification and Totum and Pars may be distinguished these may But I go farther That which goes before and that which comes after Justification must be distinguished from it but such is Remission Remission therefore is Two-fold Universal and Conditional the one Particular and Absolute the other Universal Conditional Remission goes before Justification Particular Absolute follows as its Effect and so Neither must be made the Formal Reason of it He hath given us the World of Reconciliation to wit that God was in Christ reconciling the World to himself not imputing their Trespasses And we are his Embassadors beseeching you in Christ's stead to be reconciled unto God 2 Cor 5.18 19 20. Here we see a Reconciliation of God to us obtained for the World so that a Non-imputation of Trespasses belongs to all which yet precedes our being Reconciled to him and consequently our actual Believing and Justification The Reconciliation of the World to God by the Non-imputation of Sin in this Text is indeed no other but what the Apostle otherwhere calls Redemption In whom we have Redemption through his Blood even the Forgiveness of Sins Eph. 1.7 Col. 1.14 Now that Redemption does precede Justification both in the Nature of the Thing and Intent of the Apostle is manifest Rom. 3.24 Being justified freely by his Grace through the Redemption that is in Christ Jesus Redemption is the Ground we see of our Justification and the Ground is necessarily first to be supposed before that which is built upon it And what is Redemption Redemption is Christ's procuring or purchase of Man's delivery from Wrath due to us according to the Law for Sin or of our discharge from the Penalty called sometimes Freedom from the Law sometimes Forgiveness of Sins by the Price of his Blood or Satisfaction in our behalf but to be given out to us no otherwise than as God and Christ please and that is upon the Terms of the Gospel Of this Remission which preceding Justification must be Universal for where it is Particular the Man is justified and Conditional for if it were Absolute all must be saved no Man must conceive me to imagine our Righteousness the Formal Cause or any Cause nay or Condition Nevertheless this General Remission being given out I say to particular Persons by a new Law or Covenant which requires of us to the participating thereof that we believe repent and walk sincerely before God this Evangelical Righteousness upon that Account is the Thing that Formally justifies us Upon our Faith God does account us Believers or Performers of this Law or Covenant that is righteous by the Righteousness of Faith the Forma per quam we are made so and then this Remission before Conditional becomes Absolute or Actual Remission so commonly called as the Effect together with a Right to Heaven of this Justification Now when the Protestants ordinarily that distinguish not Remission from Justification are vehement here in reference to Grace and Works and say that no Man does or can do any thing in order to the Remission of his Sin That there is nothing and can be nothing in the whole World interposed between our Sins and God's Wrath to stave that off us but Christ's Satisfaction which was made by him and accepted of God for us while we are Sinners Enemies and have no other Qualification so that therefore our Righteousness is so far from being any Cause Efficient Material or Formal that it is not so much as a Condition of it I say it is all true it is all granted The Absolute Free Grace of God and our Redeemer is to be received with the utmost Humility of our Hearts and Thankfulness Only one thing is necessary which is that it be understood aright It must be understood of
co quod Christus peccatum pro nobis factus est Hoc autem ipsum est Christi Obedientia Ergo Justitia Dei non est Christi Obedientia Wotton Besides That we might be made the Righteousness of God in him is expressed by the Apostle as the End or Effect of his being made Sin for us He was made Sin for us not Formaliter but Effective in suffering for our Sins His Sufferings was his Obedience and that his Righteousness By the Righteousness of God therefore we must not understand the Righteousness of Christ because that which is the End or Effect of a Thing cannot be the very same Thing but another differing from it There is yet that Text more which will receive the like easie Interpretation on that Supposition Christ is the End of the Law for Righteousness to him that believeth the Believer being righteous In and With and not only meritory By his Righteousness according to Rom. 10.4 But the Supposition really is too gross the Notion too hard to be digested as well as dangerous in regard to the Antinomian Consequences of it If in a Law-sence we are righteous and have fulfilled the Law in Christ then in a Law-sence God sees no Sin in us we need no Pardon God cannot in Justice punish for any thing we do with the Lerna of the like Doctrines which follow upon it If in a Law-sence Christ's Righteousness is ours and we have fulfilled the Law in him then are we in a Law-sence justified by Works when by the Works of the Law the Scripture says no Flesh living shall be justified It the Notion of Faith being imputed for Righteousness which is Scripture must be so framed as by Faith we must understand its Object Christ's Righteousness so imputed but first received by Faith or made ours by Faith as the Instrument of that Reception How then shall those many Fathers and Holy Men before Luther who never had any such Notion in their Minds Nay how shall the Patriarchs and all the Holy People from Adam to Christ have been justified as we which is to be Righteous with this Righteousness when they never had the Instrument to receive it An Instrument is that the Efficient works by And when there is not the working Cause how can there be the Effect It is not credible to me that ever any one before Christ or any of his Disciples before his Death did or could believe themselves Righteous by the Satisfaction and Obedience of the Messiah in this sence that his Righteousness should or could be their Formal Righteousness when As St. John tells us He that doth Righteousness is righteous so is this Righteousness done the Formal Righteousness and Christ's Obedience and Satisfaction the Meritorious Cause and the Account we give of its acceptance in the Sinners Justification A Third Text and parallel Place we have in Rom. 8.3 4. What the Law could not do in that it was weak through the Flesh c. That is I suppose when through the Fall no Man could perform the Condition of the Law of Works God sent his Son as it follows to be a Sacrifice for Sin to procure a Law of Grace That the Righteousness of the Law might be fulfilled in us who walk not after the Flesh but after the Spirit How is that when none can fulfil the Law through the Weakness of the Flesh do we fulfil it Yes It is not said fulfilled in Christ but in Us and it is fulfilled by this Righteousness of God which being on our part all one with the Obedience of Faith God upon Christ's Account imputes that to us for Righteousness or reckons it instead of fulfilling it making it as good to us and rewarding us alike as if we had perfectly performed it It is an Obedience or Righteousness indeed not 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 as I have it before according to the Rigour of the Law but 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 according to the Equity of the Gospel It is not in its own Nature a Righousness falling short of the Law that would justifie us but it does it by Divine Institution and therefore called the Righteousness of God It is an Ordination of Grace through Jesus Christ and therefore is God righteous in what he does But on our part it is called the Righteousness of Faith I do observe therefore how that Religiously Learned Gentleman Sir Charles Wolesley having wrote his Book of Justification after I had wrote and he had read my Sheets on the same Subject hath these Words upon that forementioned Critical Place 2 Cor. 5.21 The meaning is this says he Christ that was without all Sin was ordained of God to be a Sacrifice for Sin that we might thereby be made righteous with the Gospel Righteousness for that is the general meaning every where of the Righteousness of God Sir C. W. p. 64. This I know I delivered as my Judgment in those Sheets and his saying the same after is as much as if he had said I have considered what you say and am convinced that this is the meaning of that Text and that you are right in your Sence of the Righteousness of God It is a walking after the Spirit not after the Flesh though not perfectly up to our Duty And the Law of the Spirit of Life in Christ Jesus after which we walk in our measure does set us free from the Law of Sin and Death I will proceed to some Consequences like to be good or ill as they follow upon a right or mistaken understanding of this Righteousness If by it the Righteousness of Christ imputed be understood By the exercise of Faith in apprehending the same to be made ours so as to bring it before the Tribunal of God's Justice for our Justification thereby according to the Law of Works the very Life of that Faith or Comfort of that Life which consists in trusting resting relying on God's Mercy and Goodness for pardoning all the Failings of our Performances and accepting them even our very Desires and weakest Endeavours through the Merits of Christ unto Life so as by that Faith we have access to the Throne of Grace and are justified according to the Gospel is stopt perverted if not quite contradicted and lost Nay if the End of Christ's Obeying and Satisfying the Law was that his Satisfaction and Obedience should be made ours upon Condition for our Divines here are cautious and do generally take heed to put in that to wit upon Performance of the Terms the Gospel requires of us in order to it and not otherwise then cannot the Merits of Christ be so rationally I think applied thus as I speak to the Performance of the Condition Our Divines indeed do say that Christ hath not only procured this Imputation on Condition but Grace also for the Performance of the Condition some say General Grace for all that will some Special that makes some to will but this Condition must be performed by our Free-Will or Grace so
Scripture speaks Lingua Filiorum hominum as the Jews say Or as the Schools Secundum nostrum concipiendi modum in many Matters incomprehensible To leave Mr. Wotton's Genus Definitionis therefore to himself without farther concern he hath defined Justification by Remission of Sin in opposition to those that define it by the Imputation of Christ's Righteousness and he hath elaborately proved this to be the Sence of the Church of England and Calvin's with many others I do now agree with Mr. Wotton herein in excluding the Imputation of Christ's Righteousness in his Sence intended that is as our Formal Righteousness out of the Definition because there is no such thing as the Imputation thereof In se tho' the Merit of it be imputed to Believers as to the Effects But I do not agree with him in making Remission of Sin to be that he wont let the other be the Form or Formal Reason of our Justification Because I hold with Mr. Bradshaw our Actual Pardon to be the Effect or Benefit of it The Righteousness of God which is not yet throughly understood by Protestant or Papist and I have made the Subject of this Dissertation is indeed that Formal Righteousness we are seeking and I do not think that any Man in his first natural reading Paul's Epistle to the Romans who brought not his Understanding from without to the place did ever apprehend by that Righteousness of God now Revealed when Remission of Sin was a thing never Hid that Pardon only is to be understood I will advise every Judicious Man therefore when any material Point is concerned in a Text to ponder it in the Original several times 'till he come to some Resolution about it in his own Mind because when he hath sucked in the Sence of another his own Judgment is worth nothing Mr. Wotton hath said enough to turn a Man to his Opinion he is so rational a Man but having been myself otherwise inclined as to the Sence of this Righteousness and finding the Scripture calling no Man righteous but upon the Account of doing righteously I cannot comply with Mr. Wotton in his Notion nor with the contrary in such as the hitherto prevailing Dr. Owen in theirs The Ministry of the Gospel is called the Ministration of Righteousness upon the Account of this Righteousness as also the Ministration of the Spirit in regard of the Grace the Spirit brings to perform it which Austine I remember in his Book De Spiritu Littera hath told us It can by no means be called the Ministration Thereof in regard to Remission of Sins There are many the like Arguments I think I could find out against Mr. Wotton's Opinion but that my Discourse is rather to be Demonstrative than Elenctical and therefore I must not omit that place in Daniel where it is prophesied that Christ shall bring in Righteousness that is a Righteousness procured by his Death and Merits and called an Everlasting Righteousness being that by which they that ever were are or shall be so are justified and saved and it is said brought in and at such a time when the Messiah shall be slain as it is said Now Manifested or Revealed by the Gospel which is I said but now the Ministration of it To which purpose it is to be understood and observed farther that Righteousness as well as Reconciliation and the making an End of Sins is one End of our Redemption which I have explained more * That the End of Christ's coming in the World of our Redemption and the Covenant of Grace was that we should be holy and righteous is said ordinarily by Divines according to the Scriptures but the right and plain Understanding or Reason of what they say is not said by them He hath chosen us in Christ that we should be Holy He hath redeemed us from Iniquity that we should be a peculiar People We are his Workmanship created unto Good Works in or through Christ Jesus Well! when God made Man at first and gave him a Law was it not that he should live holy And when Righteousness then was the End of his Creation and the Law thereof how is this said to be the End of his Redemption I answer therefore Righteousness or Holiness as they are one we must know does lie in a Conformity to the Law which God gives us There is nothing less than this the full Performance of a Law given that is Righteousness Upon this Account as soon as Man once fell and broke the Law of his Creation it is impossible he should be righteous any more unless there were a New Law brought in in the Performance whereof he might attain to that again which he had lost Now to this End was it that Christ came and died This was the very main Business I count of his Redemption as to free us from Condemnation by the Old so even the procuring this New Law or another Law with lower Terms which some Men performing they do thereby become righteous and so have Righteousness according to that Law imputed to them for Remission and Life Eternal Here you see what that Righteousness indeed is which Christ is said to bring in and in what Sence he hath brought it in or how such Texts as these before does attribute our Holiness to him It is called an Everlasting Righteousness as the Gospel is called the Everlasting Gospel because it is the Righteousness in opposition to that of the Law or of Works that all Men from the Beginning of the World to the End of it do obtain Everlasting Salvation Mid. Way of Justif p. 43. other-where Daniel 9.24 Titus 2.14 Well! you will say then if the Imputation of Christ's Righteousness be not the Form of our Justification nor Remission of Sins when some Protestants say the one and some the other and some both what then is the Form of it I answer Mr. Wotton hath told us truly in the rest of his Words It is God's imputing to a Man his Faith for Righteousness This is Scripture express and the Righteousness of God I am treating of is otherwhere called the Righteousness of God by Faith and the Righteousness of Faith for that is express Scripture also Justification supposes a Man just Justificationis formam justitia constare certum est God cannot account a Man righteous without a Righteousness The Papists therefore are hot here with Calvin that will have a Man be justified only by Remission of Sins without an inherent Righteousness and the Protestants as hot with the Papists that will have any inherent Grace or Righteousness of ours to be such as answers the Law that it should justifie us for by Righteousness both understand a Conformity to the Law of Works Both therefore are out There is no such inherent Grace as answers the Law nor any Grace from without either Remission of Sins or Christ's Righteousness imputed that is or can be our Formal Righteousness but it is Faith which is Grace and
the Form of that Imputation but of Justification passively taken I add at last upon the Account of Christ's Merits or through Christ or for Christ's sake because this Faith of ours or Evangelick Righteousness hath so many Defects in the best of Christians that if through the Sacrifice of Christ they were not pardoned and through his Merits that imperfect Duty which is done accepted it could not be imputed to us for Righteousness And I do more especially signifie thereby that Christ's Righteousness which cannot be imputed to us as the Formal Cause of our Justification is and must be very carefully brought to our Account and granted to be imputed as the Meritorious Cause of that Acceptation And in making it the Meritorious I have learn'd of Mr. Baxter to allow it to be the Material also which he says is nothing else but to be the Matter of that Merit because I make our Faith the Formal in our Justification After this I distinguish between this pardoning and bearing with the Defects of our Faith Repentance New Obedience which are the Conditions of the Gospel Covenant and so our Gospel Righteousness or that which is imputed for Righteousness and that General or Total Pardon which the Covenant promises and becomes Absolute upon performing the Condition The one of these is that very Grace or Act of Grace itself as goes into that Act of Imputation or Act that imputes our Faith for Righteousness when the other I say still is the Effect or Benefit following Justification Justification being thus defined by God's imputing a Man's Faith to him for Righteousness it may be understood what Mr. Baxter still tell us that Justification is the making us righteous as well as the accounting us righteous and dealing with us as righteous I have been shy hitherto of admitting the first of these because of the Papists but I will now distinguish There is a making a Man just or righteous by Infusion or by Imputation Gods making a Man just by Infusion is Regeneration which the Papists hold and we distinguish from Justification I suppose Mr. Baxter once intended no other Those that will have Justification nothing but Forgiveness do readily grant this that Justification makes one just for when Sin is forgiven so that there is not the Guilt of any Omission or Commission imputed to a Person he is made Righteous by Non-imputation But I am for neither of these Justification is not making a Man righteous by Infusion nor by Non imputation but by Imputation God imputing our Faith to us for Righteousness Per formalem Justificationis causam justi constituimur Our Faith and Evangelick Obedience is imperfect and sinful and we are unrighteous in the Eye of the Law for all that but God in his judging us according to the Law of Grace does allow of that for Christ's sake instead of all which the Law requires to our Justification By this may that Expression of the Apostle that God justifies the Ungodly be rightly understood Not in the Sence or either of the former that take it only in Sensu diviso so that he who before his Justification was ungodly is no longer so after but In sensu composito Our Faith I say or Evangelical Obedience in regard to the Law or in regard to those Works that are required by the Law to our Justification are no Righteousness no Righteousness which in its own Nature would justifie us but God constitutes it such by the Law of the Gospel and according to that Law imputes it to us for Righteousness A Man believes Let us suppose that Sound Faith The Spirit must have been given to work it in him Where the Spirit is given to work inherent Grace in a Person he is Regenerate But this Regeneration is not Justification For suppose a Regenerate Man should live all his Life as righteously as he is able yet if God should deal with him according to the Law of Works he is still ungodly in that regard and he could not be justified and God's dealing with him otherwise according to his Law of Grace and accounting or adjudging him righteous by that Law notwithstanding all his Failings for Christ's sake is this imputing Faith to him for Righteousness which is the Formal Reason of Justification I must take leave to rake this again a little over for I see some need and I must confess Mr. Baxter hath perplexed me often as to this particular In some of his Books he speaks of Justification making us just by Pardon which freeing us from the Guilt of all Sin Omission and Commission does make us he accounts righteous as we can be made In others he seems to understand with Augustine that Justification makes us just by Grace inherent A Man must believe and repent before he is justified He cannot do that without God's Grace God does therefore first make him righteous by this inherent Grace before he accounts him just or deals with him as such Mr. Baxter was induced to this I think by the Judicious Le Blanc who apprehends that there are three or four places for which he quotes some of our chief Protestants that make Justification the same with Sanctification Unto which Texts I should choose rather to give Answer according to others than to consent to this because it comes so near the Papists as to leave us almost no difference from them I will therefore advance here a Distinction to the same purpose as but now which among the many Mr. Baxter hath he yet has not and it is this There is a threefold making a Man just By Conversion or Regeneration and this is Austine's and the Papists Justification By Pardon and this is Mr. Wotton's Justification Or by the Righteousness of God which I made the Subject of these Sheets as something between Protestant and Papist and this is God's imputing our Faith for Righteousness which is my Justification and I will call it mine because I take it to be the Scriptures where it is expresly delivered as cannot be gainsaid The Papists Opinion to make things clear is that the Grace of God infused is the Formal Righteousness that justifies us or makes us just in God's sight according to the Law of Works Justitia Habitualis à Deo infusa satis est ut homo illa indutus possit in Divino judicio sisti vere justus haberi In this Sence the Protestants lay down this contrary Position that a Sinner is justified not by any Formal Righteousness in himself but by the Mercy of God through the Satisfaction of Christ. The Protestants I own here against the Papist according to the Papists Sence Our Faith or Evangelick Righteousness or inherent Grace I must say this over is imperfect and cannot be our Formal Righteousness according to the Law it is no Conformity to the Law of Works and they of Trent thought of no other but our imperfect Faith Repentance New Obedience is a Conformity to that which God hath made the Condition
many for fear on one hand least they live short of that universal unreserved Obedience which is the most general Mark given of Sincerity and on the other hand when they have come to be satisfied a little as to that least they split on the Book of trusting to themselves or resting in Duty instead of the Righteousness of Christ received by Faith only All things that are comprized any way in following after Righteousness such as are all our Duties and Works are excluded from any Influence in our Justification says the Doctor p. 490. And in p. 493 he says When the Apostle James affirms that a Man is justified by Works and not by Faith only he cannot intend our Justification before God where it is impossible they should both concur I have no doubt but St. James and St. Paul both understood by the Justification they speak of our Justification before God I have proved it Mid. Way of Just p. 51 52. The Justification of Abraham before and at his Offering his Son argues nothing but that Justification is a continued Act as a Pardon at Law and seeing his Faith and Works had Influence in it against the Doctor I conceive that Faith and Works may be made to concur in Justification more kindly than Justification and Sanctification can in their Preaching of the Gospel The most of the Objections the Doctor tells us that are raised against his Doctrine do arise he says for want of a due Comprehension of the Order of the Work of Grace and our Compliance therewithal in a Way of Duty I must say the same of him and as to all that is raised by any against the Doctrine of the Righteousness of God which I am endeavouring to establish against that which is the Doctor 's and the common Protestants Own instead of Paul's Revealed in the Gospel The Gospel calls for Repentance out of Question as well as Faith and the Doctor and others could never exclude all Works from Justification against St. James but for want of a due Comprehending the Way and Method of becoming Righteous which God of his Grace and abundant Mercy when we were lost and liable to Damnation through the need of an irrecoverable Innocency hath instituted through Christ's Redemption and the Evangelick Condition accepted by him instead of the Righteousness of Works from whence we are fallen This is the Righteousness of God in a short Explanation * Well! Let us consult what is that Righteousness of God St. Paul speaks of Rom. 1.17 Rom. 3.21 22 26. Rom. 10.3 2 Cor. 5.21 Phil. 3.9 which he calls so God's Righteousness the Righteousness of Faith that which is through the Faith of Christ the Righteousness which is of God by Faith in opposition to Works in the Point of Justification Is it the Righteousness of Christ who is God I am perswaded this is a First Thought so shallow that it must be short What then indeed is it This Righteousness of God is that Way and Method of becoming Righteous which is of God's Institution as Another hath expressed it That is not the Righteousness of Christ but that Righteousness through Christ which is Ordained of God and promulgated in the Gospel to be accepted I say through him unto Justification and Salvation But what Way and Method is that When God made Man we must conceive he had in his Prospect what to do with him and that was to glorifie himself in Saving him There was two Ways to do this Either by the Way of Works or Grace Man was Created with an Original Righteousness and what was Original must be Natural and if he had stood he must according to Nature have been Righteous and all his Posterity and the Reward then as it is reckon'd by the Apostle would have been of Debt or Merit and not of Grace God hereby should have glorified his Justice and Goodness in Saving Man but he should have shewn no Mercy nor Man have any need of it No nor any need of a Saviour or Redemption or the Holy Spirit 's Operation That is of that Grace which is Medicinal or Habitual Grace for I say if he had an Original Righteousness he had no need of the Infusion of a New to heal Original Corruption He would have been saved by Works proceeding from Nature Ex Regula viribus Naturae and not from Grace or the Spirit and have needed none of that Grace neither which is Favour but only God's Justice to have dealt with him according to that Law of Innocency which he had performed God therefore did not choose this Way that Man should be saved by a Righteousness of his own according to Nature but by Way of Grace and Works proceeding from Grace or the Holy Spirit and not of himself and that is by a Righteousness which is of God by Faith For by Grace are ye saved through Faith and not of your selves least any Man should boast That is not a Righteousness of your effecting but of God's own Contrivance who hath chosen this way rather than that of Works that none may ascribe that to themselves which is due only to God Not by Works of Righteousness which we have done but according to his Mercy he saved us by the washing of Water and renewing of the Holy Ghost Note here is the Righteousness we have done and the Renewing of the Holy Ghost so opposed as that we are saved by that Righteousness which is of God and of God's Spirit and not by that which is our Own How is that Why They being ignorant of God's Righteousness and going about to establish their own have not submitted to that which should have saved them The Performance of the Law of Moses was the Jews Righteousness for God says This shall be your Righteousness and the Performance of the Law of Nature or Covenant of Works is all Mankind's Righteousness and when neither Jew could perform the One nor any Mortal the Other there are none can be saved by the Righteousness of their Own but it must be by Another Righteousness called by the Apostle the Righteousness of God But now the Righteousness of God without the Law is manifest being witnessed by the Law and Prophets even the Righteousness of God which is by the Faith of Jesus Christ. Here is a Righteousness that was ever on foot in the World or none else could have been saved but now revealed by the Gospel which is the Righteousness that save us in opposition to the Righteousness of the Law or of Works even the Righteousness of Faith that is a Righteousness according to the Law or Covenant of Grace which Christ hath procured by his Blood Hence do we read it is said of Christ in Daniel that as he should make Reconciliation for Iniquity so he should bring in an Everlasting Righteousness that is by his Death he should procure a Covenant or Law of Grace by our Performance whereof without the Law we are righteous and must be justified and saved
'T is that is this Righteousness If Christ had not procured for us this New Law there could have been no Righteousness in the Earth for the Law of Innocency no Man can perform and therefore hath he by procuring this New Covenant brought in a Righteousness in the World and that which is the abiding Righteousness the Righteousness of this Covenant whereby all are saved that have or ever shall be saved Now when we have here a Righteousness which lies in the Performance of the Law of Grace purchased for us by Christ and wrought in us by the Spirit of Grace for the spirit we must know is not given to perform the Law of Works but this Law we do see what does belong to this Way of Grace which God hath chosen to save Man by This Way of Grace does contain in it the giving of Christ the Redemption we have by him our Reconciliation with God Pardon of Sin the Covenant itself and the Dispensation of the Spirit or his Grace for performing the Condition of it All this and more hang together so that when we say it is not by Works but by Grace that we are saved it is all one as to say it is not by Perfect Works but by an Evangelical Righteousness by Mercy by Pardon by Christ See what this Righteousness of God comes to in its right and full Definition Mid. Way of Just p. 57 58. I have two Pages to set it out more fuller in my Mid. Way of Just p. 57 58 and I have two Pages in my Pacif. p. 27 28 29 30. which should be read rather than here abridged The Design of God to save Man was to magnifie his Grace and therefore of two Ways to do it God chose this of Grace and not the Way of Works unto which yet was Man created and by which he should have lived if he had stood and it is such Works which Dr. Owen never came to consider unto which Grace is opposed by the Apostle To this End the Fall is permitted Redemption by Christ appointed This Redemption is double from Sin and from Condemnation Christ redeems us from Death by the Sacrifice of himself upon which an Act of Grace passes that gives Pardon and Life upon Condition and the Condition is Repentance toward God and Faith toward Jesus Christ. Redemption from Sin is by the Grace of God's Spirit working in us this Repentance and Faith in order to our Justification and is called by our Divines Effectual Vocation It is so far therefore from Truth to exclude Evangelical Works from any Interest in our Justification that they are ordained of God in order to it God hath linked his Golden Chain so that Election does enter our Calling for Effectual Calling is Actual Election and our Effectual Calling does enter our Justification for the Works of it Faith Repentance New Obedience are imputed to us for that Righteousness that justifies us and our Justification and inchoate Righteousness does enter and is the Infancy of Glory From hence the Justification of a Sinner by the Righteousness of God may come under a double Consideration It may be consider'd Precisely in itself or Complexly with its Antecedents and Consequents That which is Antecedent to it is Redemption and that from Damnation as that from Sin both being wrought without our doing any thing not so much says Ruiz as to give an Active Occasion towards it but wholly of Grace It is like that in regard to the Antecedents the Apostle speaks of the Freeness of our Justification so as he does Rom. 3.24 and the like places when otherwise he lets us know that without Conversion or a Call of Turning from Sin unto God no Man can be justified and saved Unto whom I send thee to turn them from Darkness to Light from the Power of Satan unto God that they may receive Forgiveness of Sins Acts 27.18 There is therefore the Antecedents the Constituents and Subsequents of this Righteousness of God and our Justification by it Redemption and Calling are Antecedents The Work of that Calling which is the Performance of the Condition and the Imputation of it for Righteousness the one being as it were the Matter and the other giving the Form to it are the Constituents Actual or Absolute Pardon and Life the Subsequents or Benefits of it This Distinction I would not omit before I go off because I would have none so stiff in theri own Opinions much less froward but that they may yield to others also something in theirs If Austin will place Justification in the Infusion of Grace I will grant it him as Antecedent to it If Mr. Wotton will place it in Pardon I will grant it him as Consequent to it or as the Special Benefit of it If the Assembly will place it in Pardon and the Imputation of Christ's Righteousness if they mean it Per modum Meriti and not In se I will grant it If Mr. Baxter will place it in a Personal Righteousness subservient to the Righteousness of Christ not formally made Ours but in the Effects that is as much as to say required in order to our having Impunity and Life as Comprehensive of all its Effects or Benefits I will grant it him as Constituent of it If Dr. Owen will be content tho' others differ from him so long as Remission of Sin Acceptance with God Right to Life are acknowledged all to be owing to the Righteousness of Christ and not the Merit of our Works I kiss Dr. Owen's Hand also Let this Righteousness of God for Justification of Life be taken in its Complex Consideration and we may all joyn in some Agreement in it tho' where it is Precisely taken every own will stand for his own Opinion I was long before I could come to this God accounting a Man righteous by the Law of Grace as having performed the Condition I always thought to be Justification and this Mr. Baxter granted me Pardon then I counted the Effect of this and therefore different from it besides that the Word methoughts would not allow them to be the same Pardon of Sin is not signified by the Word Justification in any place of Scritpure says Dr. Owen p. 173. The Word is never found so used either in the Hebrew or Greek Writers Sacred or Profane nor in our common Speech says Gattaker on Isa 5.23 who was in this yet a more competent Judge How these two Things being different as the Cause and Effect should enter the same Definition and be made one I could not devise or admit 'till I was taught by one Word in a Letter I receiv'd from Mr. Baxter Pardon says he is not that Justifications The Word That instructed me that Justification being a Forensical Term opposed to Accusation According to the Accusation such he counted Justification There are now two Charges as most say against the Sinner a Charge of the Law and a Charge of the Gospel The Charge of the Law is that we have broke
which is rather the Consequence of this Acceptance with God Rom. 3.28 Therefore we conclude that a Man is justified by Faith without the Deeds of the Law i. e. A man is received into the Favour of God not by his own Works but according to the Grace of the Gospel and the Terms contained therein And this I take to be St. Paul's meaning 3. The Righteousness of Christ may be said to be imputed two ways 1. So as it becomes our Personal Righteousness which is called Formal Imputation 2. So as the Benefit of Christ's Righteousness and Satisfaction redounds to our Advantage If the former Sense be allowed these Consequences follow 1. That we must be as Righteous as Christ was for if Personal Righteousness can be transferred the Person on whom it is transferred must have that very Righteousness which was in Christ himself and so must be as Holy and Innocent as he was which I hardly think any will pretend to 2. That there can be no Remission of Sin as to such who have this perfect Righteousness no more than there could be to Christ himself Imputation for Remission of Sin and of Personal Righteousness are inconsistent For the one must suppose Guilt and the other cannot when the Personal Righteousness is actually imputed There may be antecedent Guilt before the Imputation but where there is perfect Righteousness actually imputed there can be no personal Guilt for if there be it can be no perfect Righteousness as to him 3. That there can be no Conditions required where a perfect Righteousness is imputed For a Condition is in order to something to be obtained but here the full Benefit is already received by the Imputation of a perfect Righteousness and it is absurd to suppose Conditions for the obtaining of what is past It cannot then be denied that those speak consonantly enough to this Hypothesis who exclude all Conditions from the new Covenant but very dangerously as to the Design of Charity since our Saviour himself bids us to pray to God to forgive our Trespasses as we forgive others which I think supposes a Condition on our Parts in order to Remission But if no more be meant by Imputation of Christ's Righteousness but that the Sufferings of Christ were in our stead and for our Advantage as to Remission and Justification I do most heartily and freely own it 4. The Apostles Argument against Merit and Boasting do by no means hold against such an Evangelical Righteousness as comes from the Grace of God and tends wholly to the Honour of it which is so clear that I need not to prove it This is a short Account of my Thoughts in this Matter and I think we do not differ in the Substance however we may in the manner of Explication I am Your Friend and Servant ED. WIGORN Mr. Humfrey Chester Apr. 12. 1997. I Receiv'd by Piece-meal as it came from the Press all your Book entituled Of the Righteousness of God in the Matter of Justification except the Title Page and the Epistle which I read over as it came to my Hands with Pleasure and Profit The great Doctrine of Justification is by you stated more agreeably to the Scriptures than I have met with it in any other Author You do I confess in some Places express your Sense obscurely so that it may perhaps be mistaken by unwary Readers but if in those Places I rightly apprehend your Meaning I do not at present remember any thing I have to object against it However I intend the next Week to read over the whole together and if any Objections shall then occur to my Thoughts you shall hear further from me It will I doubt not be a good Antidote against the Antinomian Doctrines which some Persons who decry do implicitly and by necessary Consequence assert by the false Notion they have entertain'd of Christ's imputed Righteousness I am SIR Your Affectionate Brother N. CESTRIENS An ADVERTISEMENT from the Author READER TO make a stay to camulate more Testimony to this Book though of the like Right Reverend Persons to no other end but to signify their Consent or Approbation of it might give thee Occasion to censure me for a seeker of vain Glory which does little become such a one as I rather than thy Edification I will use this spare Leafe therefore to another Purpose When I reprinted my Middle way of Justification which I printed at first about 25 Years ago I thought of writing no more on that Point But afer a while there being something I conceived needful for Finishing my Work I took occasion from the Difference among our United Brethren in a single Sheet called my One Sheet to draw up a Conclusion of the whole Matter so thorowly as I could to my own Mind intending it for my last that I cannot think fit this Book being now later and like to be canvased more than the other should come abroad without it as the Substance of this as well as that Book before and that I have wrote between or any else I can write on this Subject Having therefore this little room to fill I cannot consult my Own Content and Thy Profit better than to do it with this Citation from thence as follows To understand aright St. Paul's Justification by Faith we must consider with whom it is he contends The Jews as the best skill'd in Rabbinical Learning does tell us did generally maintain the Doctrine of Freewill not doubting but every one could do as God commanded if he would himself * This is the meaning of that Jewish saying All things are in the Power and disposal of Heaven except the Fear of God for that they believed was in their own they having no Notion as Pelagius at first of Grace All that God hath spoken we will do And having receiv'd the Law from God's Mouth the Excellency whereof was their Glory they supposed in the observation of the Outside that they kept it accounting the Reward promised therein due to them thereupon from God as what in Justice they merited for their Deeds Insomuch that some thought themselves so righteous as not to sin at all or need Pardon Touching the Law blameless All these have I kept from my youth up and others that sinned being lick'd whole by Sacrifice they thought all well boasting themselves as the Only People the Only Righteous in the Earth Not to mention what we all know out of the Acts that some of them were Converts to Christianity did yet remain of the Opinion that their Law was to be kept The Apostle now sets himself against †Not that this great I 〈◊〉 was for 〈◊〉 of the Jewâ— that is a 〈◊〉 and unâ—â—…thy 〈…〉 the Life and â—â—â—â—…tion of Man 〈…〉 that Justification by Faith in Opposition to the Law must not be understood as to that of Moses only but to the whole Law of Works these Jews and lets them know that no Man neither Jew nor Gentile is righteous
by his Grace I say to do how little soever if sincerely done if it be but the Grain of Mustard-seed in a hungring and thirsting after Righteousness shall be accepted unto Life that is be that Condition upon the Account of what Christ hath done for us this I say is solid Consolation Thou sayest when I look on my Works my Heart sinks I am not sure I am sincere but in the Righteousness of Christ I am safe I say this is certain if thou art not sincere thou art not safe And when I doubt whether I am or not I can have no Support but in this that I hope I am I trust I am and that it is upon the Satisfaction and Merit of Christ that Faith that Hope does depend For that there is any Condition at all that the Condition is such that what I do shall be accepted as the Condition performed it must be all put upon Christ's Performance and Merit in our behalf and his Merit is sufficient however imperfect be our Duty for its acceptance with God When then upon a Sence of my Deficiency instead of sinking I grow bolder in my reliance on Christ's Merits and God's Mercy I do not presume on myself but I magnifie his Grace and the higher I raise my Faith thereupon provided I live not willingly in any Conscience-wasting Sin the more Glory am I humbly perswaded do I give my gracious Saviour and good God Thou Man hast the Comfort to apply to thy self Christ's Merits if thou hast performed the Condition But I have the Comfort to apply Christ's Merits to the Condition which makes his Yoke easie and his Burden light as to the Performance and my Desires and weakest Endeavours to find Acceptance When I read such Prayers of David That God would not enter into Judgment with him that he would not be extream to mark what he had done amiss for then he could not abide it and that yet he will have God to search him and try his Reins and Heart and the like I cannot but be convinced that in the Acceptance of such an imperfect Righteousness as he accounted his was through God's meer gracious Condescension Mercy and Forgiveness to him he placed his Justification in which Sence also he calls him the God of his Righteousness When as for any Acceptance of him through the Righteousness of the Messiah to come a Righteousness without him made his by Faith which could abide God's district Justice I find not the Footstep of one such Thought To rely therefore I will say on Christ's Righteousness as ours without regard to any thing within or without regard to the Condition is Self-deceiving But to rely on God's Mercy and on Christ's Merits for Acceptance of what we do and Pardon for the Failings is substantial Religion and of Justification by Faith in Christ's Blood a good Exposition I will fetch here one Leaf out of my late Book Pacification and put it into the Margin for the Use and Comfort of this Explication I return to Mr. Wotton who indeed does sweat with stir to prove that Remission of Sin is Righteousness for wiping off that blame the Papists lay on his Opinion that a Man is justified without a Righteousness if it be by Pardon only But this I stick upon that though pardon in some Sence is or may be called Righteousness yet is it not this Righteousness it is not the Righteousness of God I am concerned about that the Apostle means and which is by Mr. Wotton's own acknowledgment that which justifies the Believer It did I must needs say at first and still does move me that I find not one Scripture from Genesis to the Revelation that denominates any one to be a just or righteous Person from Pardon but from his righteous living He that doeth Righteousness is righteous Yet that which does convince me is that by Mr. Wotton's leave it is not Remission of Sin in opposition to Works but this Righteousness of God in opposition to Works and that is our Evangelical Righteousness which the Apostle means while he contends that it is by Faith and not Works that we are justified or that is Faith and not Works is our Formal Righteousness in Justification See a peculiar Argument I offer in my Mid. Way of Just p. 48. I am I say convinced that the Notion the Apostle had of Justification could not be Pardon because in his Dispute whether it be by Faith or Works we are justified he does suppose that if a Man had Works they would justifie him and make the Reward of Debt but that Abraham and none had or have them And consequently while he supposes that if a Man could keep the Law as if Adam in Innoceny had kept it he should be justified it is plain he cannot understand Pardon by Justification seeing where such Works are that is perfect Works which he certainly means there were no Sin to Pardon This Argument may be more pungently framed than it is here or there but the Medium of Probation arose to me in my Mind as perfect Conviction I will now define Justification Justification is an Act of Free Grace whereby God imputes to every Sound Believer his Faith for Righteousness upon the Account of Christ's Satisfaction and Merits giving him Pardon and Life as the Benefits of it I need say nothing of the Genus Definiti an Act of Free Grace it is the Assemblies By a Sound Believer I mean one whose Faith works by Love including Repentance and New Obedience which together makes our Evangelical Righteousness And this Sound Faith is imputed for Righteousness I account in this Sence that God does accept it in the room of a perfect Righteousness not accounting it as perfect but accepting it I say in the room of that Perfection required unto Life by the Law and consequently rewarding it for Christ's Merit sake as much if not more than if it were that I add then giving Pardon and Life as the Effects or Benefits distinguished from the Form of Justification A Right to Impunity and Life Christ hath purchased and gives by his Covenant they that are justified by this Covenant are adjudged to these Benefits so that Pardon and Salvation flow to us I say as the Benefits and are not the Form of Justification One of them is never accounted to be the Form and by the same Reason neither may be the other The Gospel-Law or Covenant does both make and declare all Believers righteous as having a Right to the Benefits of it by Performance of the Condition But as for this or that particular Person that is a Believer or Performer it is God must be Judge This Judgment is to be supposed preceding and the Benefits to be actually conferred by it When I say this Righteousness or Faith is the Form I understand it in that Sence as these Divines do who say Christ's Righteousness is the Form or Remission is the Form the Word therefore is not to be scrupled not
of it which I have been careful to keep to in my last Sheets Nay tho' I say farther that when the Satisfaction of another is imputed to the Justification of a Man the Trespasses of that other after a sort must be said imputed to him and yet neither is that Satisfaction Formaliter made his that is justified nor that Trespass Formaliter made his that makes the Satisfaction but Effective or Meritorie only in the one's bearing the Punishment and the other obtaining the Benefit of it This being understood when our Divines do account that we are justified by Christ's Satisfaction so as to be made just by it and accordingly to be made righteous by the Righteousness of another which is being made just by Imputation Such Words I count ought to be a little changed and the Sence verified It should not be said by but through Christ's Satisfaction through his Righteousness through the Imputation of it and then that Truth which is in it is this that through Christ's Satisfaction or Righteousness or Imputation of it as the Meritorious Cause which we know is an external Cause moving the Efficient to act we are indeed justified but by no means must we understand them so as that it is the Formal Cause of our Justification But the truth is here that our former Polemical Divines even the chief in opposition to a Man's being justified by any Works Merits or Righteousness of his own maintain'd against the Papists that it is by Christ's Righteousness Sub genere causae formalis that we are justified or that Christ's Righteousness is so made ours by Faith as to be the Formal Reason of our Justification Our excellent Dr. Davenant undertook this Task whosoever in those times did not but where the Scripture is for us we are to trust no Mortal against it The Question as he proposes it is Quae qualis illa justitia sit quae coram Deo hominem justificat hoc est cujus intuitu ipse Deus hominem à peccato poena peccati liberum pronunciet atque favore suo vita aeterna dignum reputet Let us define the Thing by its Form and speak this Hoc est in short Cujus intuitu hominem credentem justum reputat Now Cujus intuitu all know is all one with Id propter quod that is the Meritorious Cause only when he would maintain that Christ's Righteousness is the Causa formalis that is Causa per quam we are justified He therefore being put to it is forced to affirm thus In Justificatione talis formalis causa ponenda est quae simul meritoria esse possit His Reason for it is out of the same Quiver that is more Words for the bearing out an absurd Affirmation by putting some Face upon it I am sufficiently assured he hath shot beyond the Mark and I will not go after his Arrow By the way there are two places I remember where we are said to be justified by Christ's Blood but it is 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 and should be translated through his Blood and must be interpreted no otherwise than Cujus intuitu that is as the Meritorious Cause I say not as by Faith in his Blood which is the Formal Cause of our Justification When we speak therefore and allow our Divines to speak of the Imputation of Christ's Righteousness as they ordinarily do we must understand them so as never to make our selves the Proprietors of that righteousness Legally or any way else impossible or that Faith so makes it ours as to be our Formal Righteousness which when we see such great Divines have held no wonder if the lesser Fry do swallow but that it is the Cause for which as I have said before not the Cause by which we are justified And here I will give Mr. Williams Notice that this is the Reason why the very Righteousness of Christ cannot be imputed to us but in the Effects because I say that if it were imputed to us In se it must according to our opposite Brethren be then our Formal Righteousness which he and I are to deny I must confess I think Mr. Williams might not have so fully digested this before as likewise myself as he may now and that the Expression of his which I have exagitated in my Book with that which follows in his that Christ's Righteousness is pleadable by the Believer as if himself had done and suffered what Christ did as also To impute to one what is suffered by another is to esteem the one undertaken for in the Sufferings of the other and to deal with him as if himself had suffered are shot too high For if a Man had made Satisfaction himself or God did impute Christ's Satisfaction to him so as if himself had made it then were this his Formal Righteousness and there were no need of that of Faith this alone being that which must immediately justifie him If therefore there be such a thing to be expected ever from Mr. Williams as any Vestigia retrorsum I will be ready to look for the Prints thereof made in the Words I have quoted as well as his Brethren may in any others But the Difficulty concerning the Point of the Concurrence of Christ's Righteousness and Ours in the matter of Justification is not yet off our hands For there is a Sermon of Mr. Gibbons that Mr. Baxter often commended which I think fit to mention This Gentleman hath treated the Doctrine of Justification as I. Righteousness says he is a Conformity to the Law A Man is actually justified when he is constituted righteous The New Law runs thus He that believes shall not perish The Believer keeps or fulfils this Law Faith therefore is imputed to him for Righteousness The Law-Giver by his very making the Law constitutes him righteous and the Judge must pronounce him so The Gospel then justifies Qua lex Lata Faith justifies Vi Legis latae As the King's Stamp gives the Value to the Money I set this together and quote it for the clearness of it and my approbation to it Nevertheless he tells us also That it is Christ's Satisfaction in respect to the Law of Works that is our proper Legal Righteousness and I call it says he Our Righteousness because it becomes imputed to us upon believing These are Words that in appearance are Ambidextrous holding with the Hound and running with the Hare as the Proverb is unless we put an Understanding upon them which I am not sure that very ingenuous but young Man did As likewise such Words or Sence as Mr. Williams hath somewhere concerning this double Righteousness Christ's and Ours accounting the one the Principal and the other Subordinate to it Now if Mr. Gibbons or Mr. Williams hitherto should have conceived our Righteousness we call Evangelical to be Subordinate to Christ's which was His but not Our Legal Righteousness Sub ratione ejusdem causae they are Mired But when thus much is forelaid that Christ's Righteousness
should be accounted righteous in another's Righteousness and to be that thing Per quod we are justified There is no such Matter in reality but in notion only When one Man is justified and not another something there must be in the one that is not in the other This Righteousness now whatsoever it be as imperfect as it is confessedly yet wrought by the Spirit of God is that and must be that which is the Form per quam he is accepted or justified when the Satisfaction and the Righteousness of Christ we all at least Protestants do grant to be the Ground or Reason of that Acceptation that is the Meritorious Cause propter quam we are pardoned and saved It is not therefore the Papists infused perfect Righteousness for there is no such nor the Protestants imputed Righteousness for that is not ours both of which answer the Law if we could plead them and would make the Reward of Debt But it is a Third Thing The Righteousness of God without the Law as the Apostle calls it a Righteousness now revealed in the Gospel in opposition to Works that is meritorious perfect Works which we have and must have and yet answer not the Law but makes our Justification therefore of Mercy or Grace which is the Righteousness as yet quite out of sight of the most we must advance Paulo Duce in the Doctrine of Justification In one Verse of David's Psalms we have him praying thus Hear my Prayer O Lord answer me in thy Righteousness Where we see a Righteousness of God according to which he is accepted And yet in the next Verse do these Words follow And enter not into Judgment with thy Servant for in thy sight shall no Man living be justified Where we see a Righteousness according to which no Man can be heard no Man can be accepted no Man can stand in his sight Psal 143.1 2. Thus much then is plain that here is a Righteousness and a Righteousness A Righteousness I may say of strict Justice or a Righteousness of gracious Acceptation A Righteousness which is Severe Justice or Paternal Justice The Righteousness of a condescending Father or of a rigid Judge David does as it were appeal from the one to the other Any one may express themselves in other Terms as please them best But such a Distinction then is to be made in reality according to the Scriptures I will therefore offer yet these other words There is a Righteousness as to us 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 or 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 A Righteousness to be most plain and full according to the Law or Covenant of Works whereby God might deal with us if he would and so no Man could Live Or a Righteousness according to the Covenant of Grace which is this Righteousness the Apostle means now revealed as that by which he does deal with us in the Gospel God is not unrighteous says one Apostle to forget your Labour of Love Heb. 11.10 If we confess our Sins he is faithful and just says another to forgive us our Sins and to cleanse us from our Unrighteousness 1 Joh. 1.9 It is a righteous thing with God to render to you rest when the Lord Jesus shall be revealed 2 Thes 1.7 I have fought a good Fight and kept the Faith henceforth is laid up for me a Crown of Righteousness which the righteous Judge shall give me and all that love his appearing 2 Tim. 4.8 He shall pray unto God and he will be favourable to him for he will render to Man his Righteousness Job 33.26 Judge me Lord according to my Righteousness and according to my Integrity Psal 7.8 The Lord rewarded me according to my Righteousness for I have kept the ways of the Lord Psal 18.20 21. Remember me O Lord I beseech thee how I have walked before thee in truth and with a perfect Heart and have done that which is good in thy sight Isa 38.3 Remember me O God concerning this and wipe not out my good Deeds I have done for the House of my God and the Offices thereof Neh. 13.14 Remember me O God for good ch ult v. ult By these and the like places the Righteousness of God this Righteousness the Apostle speaks of may be taken Subjective or Terminative in regard to himself or in regard to us Or to wave School-Terms and speak surer on His part or on Our part On God's part this Righteousness is his Grace or Condescention towards us in pardoning the Failings and accepting the Endeavours of all penitent believing Men and Women so long as they be sincere notwithstanding those Failings unto Life according to the New Covenant And on Our part it is these Endeavours thus accepted or that which we do our believing or repenting how frail soever if sincere being the Condition required of us in that Covenant to our Justification and Salvation Now the Righteousness of God without the Law without the performance thereof is manifest says the Apostle It was always in the World but occult as Austine I have said in my first Sheets does speak 'till the Preaching of the Gospel How is that Why in regard to the Foundation I count on which it stands For other Foundation can no Man lay than that is laid which is Jesus Christ 1 Cor. 3.11 This Righteousness of God which is I say on God's part his Grace or Condescention toward us in passing by our Failings and accepting our sincere Endeavour unto Life notwithstanding all our Imperfections is procured for and vouchsafed to us upon the Account of Christ's Satisfaction and Righteousness the meritorious Cause of the Acceptance and Salvation of all that were saved under the Old Testament as well as of us now but that this Grace stood and was vouchsafed then upon this Account upon Christ's Account was dark to them and they saw it not as we now do and therefore is this Righteousness of God said to be revealed now tho' always afoot so as they had the benefit then or else none before now could have been saved I am not ashamed of the Gospel for therein the Apostle goes on is the Righteousness of God revealed from Faith to Faith From Faith to Faith And what means that Why this is the meaning * There is one Religion Law or Rule for all Mankind to obtain Life by which being the Law of our Lapsed Nature or Remedying Law containing God's Grace administred to all the Earth in a Threefold State of such as were or are without the Law or before it and under the Law and under the Gospel As this Administration is Threefold so hath the Faith which is the Condition thereof been diversified But now is the Righteousness of God revealed from Faith to Faith The Righteousness of God is the Righteousness of this Law which hath ever been afoot in the World and tho' a Heathen hath not that Faith as is required of the Christian in the Third Edition of it or that which was required of the