Conclusion helped by Grace whereof the major only is de fide He that believeth is justified but not the Minor I believe Therefore we usually call it a fruit of Faith § 42. Some incautelous Divines in the heat of Dispute do indeed say That it is de fide divina or a Divine Word that I am a true Believer And Chamier too unhappily goeth about to prove it by saying That it is the Word of the Spirit in us which is the Word of God As if the Spirit spake in us new Articles of Faith or a new Word to be believed whose work in those that are not inspired Prophets is but 1. to cause us to believe that Word already given 2. To be a witnessing Evidence that we are God's Children by making us holy as he is holy as similitude witnesseth a Child to be his Fathers 3. And to help us to discern that Holiness or Evidence and to exercise it and to gather Comfort from such discerning it and exercise § 43. We now commonly disown all such Assertions I meet with no sober Divine that owneth them because we grant that Conclusio semper sequitur partem debiliorem But yet we find that those few that call it de fide do most of them mean no more but that it 's partly de fide because the Major Proposition is so and so they differ but about a Logical Notion § 44. Some have said indeed beyond-Sea That a man cannot believe and not know it but we know thousands may believe and yet doubt whether it be a sincere and saving sort of Faith But I have written so many Books of these matters that I here add no more CHAP. XXI Of the nature of Righteousness Iustification and Pardon § 1. THE Controversies about Justification have made a great noise but I think that those de re are few in comparison of those de nomine even among all sorts of Christians and the confounding them by unskilful Heads who have made the ignorant believe that those which are but de nomine are de re hath kindled foolish Wrath and quenched Christian Love and taken up poor Souls with a deceitful Zeal who have thought that they were contending for great and necessary Truths when it was but for Logical Notions Names and Modes of Expression over-commended to them by their several Teachers § 2. The Words Iustice Righteousness and Iustification are very ambiguous used in many sences in the Scriptures and in the Writings of Divines and in the common use of men which I have opened in so many Books and so largely as shall here excuse my breviâ—y The Sences which we are now most concerned to take notice of are these following § 3. Righteousness is considered materially or formally Materially it is 1. immediately 1. A righteous Action 2. A righteous Disposition or Habit 2. And thence a righteous Person § 4. Righteousness materially is 1. in some or other particular Action 2. Or in the main bent of Heart and Life 3. Or in Perfection The first denominateth the Person Righteous in hoc or secundum quid The second denominateth him a sincerely Righteous Man The third a perfectly Righteous Man § 5. In the notion of the material Cause is included also the Comparative or Relative State and Proportion of Actions When the Action is duly qualified and modified in its physical Nature and Circumstances it is materially just § 6. The form enquired of is Quid morale And it is the Relation of the Action and Habit and Person as congruous to the justitia mensurans or the Rule of Righteousness The Rule or Law first maketh jus vel debitum and saith This shall be your Duty and your Neighbour's Due and declareth God's Due And the jus being constituted by the Law natural or positive that which agreeth to it is jâ—stum So that Righteousness formally is a moral Relation resulting from the physical mode and relation of Actions and Habits as compared with the Law or Rule A moral Relation founded in a physical Congruity § 7. Righteousness is both materially and formally distinguishable as towards God or Man Materially as it is God or Man that we deal â—ustly or injuriously by Formally as it is God himself or Men ruling under him who give us Laws and make the debitum vel jus or dispose of Propriety § 8. Righteousness towards God being Relative to his Laws is to be distinguished according to the several Laws that men are under and according to the several parts of the Law which give the word divers Sences § 9. 1. Righteousness as related to the Precept as such is nothing but Obedience whether partial sincere or perfect He that doth righteousness is righteous § 10. 2. Righteousness related to a meer Condition of Pardon or Salvation c. is the performance of that Condition which may be the Causa judicanda § 11. 3. Righteousness as related to the premiant or donative part of the Law or Promise is our jus ad praemium our Right to that Reward or Gift § 12. 4. Righteousness as relative to the penal part is our jus ad impunitatem or when punishment is not due to us according to that Law § 13. 1. Righteousness as related to the Precept of the Law of Innocency is materially perfect personal continued Obedience to our Creator § 14. 2. Righteousness as related to the Condition of that Law is the same because nothing but the said perfect Obedience is there made the Condition of Life § 15. 3. Righteousness related to the rewarding part of that Law is right to that Life which is there promised that is to God's Love and Felicity § 16. 4. Righteousness related to the Penalty of that Law is a Right to Impunity as to the Death which it threatneth to Sinners § 17. 1. Righteousness as related to the meer preceptive part of the Law of Grace is also perfect Obedience for the future not Innocency as to the time past for even Christ maketh perfect Obedience our Duty though he pardon sin § 18. 2. Righteousness as related to the Condition of the Law of Grace is sincere Faith and Repentance as the Condition of our first Right to the present Gifts of the Covenant and also sincere Love and Obedience to the end as the Condition of our final Iustification and Glory § 19. 3. Righteousness as related to the Reward of the Law of Grace is our Right to our Relation to the Father Son and Holy Ghost and all the Gifts of the Covenant Christ Grace and Glory § 20. 4. Righteousness as related to the penal part of the Law of Grace is our Right to Impunity as to the Punishment threatned specially by that Law § 21. The meritorious Cause of both these last our Right to Impunity and to Life is the Righteousness of Christ for the sake of which the Condonation and Donations of the Covenant of Grace are given us § 22. This Righteousness of Christ is his fulfilling the Conditions
extend to the Justification must extend to if perfect § 41. But no man is perfectly and absolutely just or justifiable For instance 1. If we be accused to have sinned we cannot be justified directly against this Accusation but must plead guilty by Confession For factum non potest fieri infectum and that Fact will for ever be culpable Adam did sin will for ever be a true assertion The Guilt of fact or fault is never done away in it self that it was really a fault and that we really did it will be an everlasting Truth Of which more afterward § 41. 2. If the Accusation be That in Adam we deserved Death it must be confessed Yea temporal Death and correcting Punishments are not only deserved but inflicted and not pardoned nor we justifiable herein § 42. 3. If the Accusation be that we deserved to have Abatements of Grace With-holdings of the Spirit and abatement of what Glory we might else have had all this must be confessed § 43. 4. Yea if it be said That our Sin primo instanti deserved Hell it must be confessed and against all this there is no direct Justification § 44. But against these Accusations we must be justified 1. If it be said that we are of Right to be damned or have no Right to Heaven but to Hell this must be denied And we must be justified by these several Causes 1. Because God's Iustice and the Ends of the violated Law are satisfied by Christ and by his Righteousness a free Gift of Pardon and Life are merited for us 2. And this free donation is the Law that we are to be judged by which giveth us Christ to be our Head and Pardon and Life with him § 45. 2. If it be said That we are Unbelievers impenitent or unholy and did not fulfill the Conditions of the Covenant of Grace we must deny it and be justified against this by our Faith Repentance and Holiness it self or else we must be condemned and perish for nothing else will do it § 46. And seeing it will be the work of the day to judge men as performers or non-performers of the said Conditions of the Law of Grace therefore it is that the Scripture speaketh so much of inherent or performed Righteousness and of Christ's judging men according to their works that is their works which are the performance of that Condition § 47. To be judged according to our Works is to be justified or condemned according to our Works For to be judged is the genus and to be justified or condemned are the species Iudging is justifying or condemning § 48. While all are agreed that all men shall be justified or condemned according to their Works it is unreasonable to quarrel at that height that many do about the syllable BY whether men be justified and condemned by their works as if according to them and by them had a different sence when as to judicial justification the sence is the very same though as to the making of men just the sence may differ § 49. We are commonly agreed that no man is justified by Works in any of these following sences 1. No man is justified either constitutively or judiciarily by his Works done according to the Law of Innocency that is by perfect personal Obedience and Love because we have it not 2. No man is justified constitutively or judiciarily by his Works done according to the Mosaical Iewish Law as such 3. Much less by any Works of his own or other mens invention which he accounteth good and are not so 4. No man is justified by any Works set in opposition to or competition or co-ordination with Christ but only in subordination to him and his Righteousness by which we are redeemed and for which we are all first conditionally pardoned and justified by the Law of Grace 5. No man could be justified by his Gospel-Obedience or his Faith if he were to be judged by the Law of Innocency as not redeemed 6. No man's Faith or Obedience will justifie him in Judgment against this accusation Thou art a Sinner or this Thy sin deserved Death Nor as one that hath fulfilled all the preceptive part of the law of Christ. 7. No Works do justifie us as meriting Life of God in proper commutative Justice 8. No man is justified by Tasks of working as contradistinct from believing and trusting on Free Grace or by external works without Christ's Spirit and spiritual Evangelical Duties 9. No good Work or Act of Man was a Condition of God's giving us a Redeemer or giving us a conditional justifying Law of Grace 10. Man's true Faith and Repentance is not before the Grace which worketh it and therefore is no Condition of that Grace 11. Man's antecedent common Works while he is impenitent merit not properly the special Grace which causeth Faith and Repentance 12. We have no Works that are acceptable to God but what are the fruits of his Spirit and Grace § 50. And on the other side we are agreed 1. That we are justified by the Works of Christ as the Meritorious Cause of our Justification 2. That the Justification purchased and given us by Christ is given us by a Law or Covenant of Grace which giveth as God's Instrument Right to Impunity and to Life to all true penitent Believers And therefore he that is justified according to this Law of Grace from the charge of Impenitence and Unbelief must be justified by his Repentance and Faith materially as being the Righteousness in question as is aforesaid 3. That without Holiness none shall see God And if any be accused as unholy and on that account no Member of Christ or Child of God or Heir of Heaven his Holiness must be the matter of his Justification 4. That though our Faith Repentance and Holiness be no universal absolute Righteousness yet they are that on which the judiciary Scrutiny must pass and which will be the question of the great day on which our Life or Death will depend as on the Condition or moral Qualification of the Receiver 5. That in this sence all men shall be judged by Justification or Condemnation according to their Works or what they have done that is as they have performed or not performed the Conditions of that Law of Grace which they were under as aforesaid 6. That therefore they that will be justified at last must trust in Christ that redeemed them and be careful to perform the Conditions of his Law of Grace and both must concurr 7. That that which is the Righteousness which must justifie us in Judgment is the same that must now constitute us just 8. That when our Right to Salvation is the thing in question to be judged that which justifieth our Right to Salvation justifieth the Person as to that Right and so far the same thing is the Condition of our Right to Salvation and to our Justification 9. And if any with Augustine will mean by Iustification God 's making us such
§ 15. 5. No external acts of sincere Obedience distinct from internal Faith and Repentance and Consent are necessary before to our first Justification that is to our right to Impunity and life in Christ. § 16. 6. Even internal Obedience to Christ as Christ distinct from our Obedience to God as God and our Subjection to Christ or Consent to be his Subjects and obey him is not before necessary to our part in Christ or our Union or Justification as in its first state or beginning § 17. 7. Therefore if we should suppose that a Man should die immediately upon his first internal Faith and Consent to the Covenant before he had time to do one Act internal or external of formal Obedience to Christ as Christ that Man would be saved But the Supposition is so utterly improbable that it is not to be put as a matter of Dispute The Thief on the Cross performed some Obedience § 18. 8. No Works of Man's are necessary to profit God or can add to his Perfection or Felicity He needeth not us nor any of our doings § 19. 9. No Works of ours are necessary to make up any defects in the Merits of Christ or to any use which is proper to Christ or his Merits or efficacious Grace § 20. 10. No preparatory Works of Man's I think are absolutely before necessary to God's effectual converting of him unless you will call the Acts of Nature by which he is fit to hear and think preparatory Works unfitly For God can give his Grace to unprepared Souls § 21. On the affirmative also we are agreed 1. That all Mankind are under God's Government by some Law and owe Him Obedience to that Law § 22. 2. That it is only Disobedience that God punisheth according to the Penal part of that Law which men live under § 23. 3. That it is only Obedience which God rewardeth according to the rewarding or promissory part of the Law that men are under § 24. 4. That the Law of Grace and not only that of Innocency hath its Commands of Obedience and Promises of Reward § 25. 5. That men must believe that there is a God before they can believe that Christ is the Anointed of God and the Mediator between God and man and therefore must first believe God's Soveraign Government § 26. 6. God commandeth men to believe in Christ and so maketh it their Duty and to take him for their Lord and Saviour by Faith § 27. 7. Men ought thus to believe in Christ and accept him in obedience to this Command of God believing that it is his Will § 28. 8. Therefore there is some sort of Relief in God and Obedience to God which is in order before our Faith in Christ And Faith in Christ as it is voluntary and free is an Act of such Obedience to God § 29. 9. Yet is it the antecedent Teaching of Christ by Nature by the Word or Spirit or all by which we now come to know God to be God and that he is to be believed and obeyed Therefore Christ is mens Teacher and thereby bringeth them to believe first in God before he is known to be their Teacher and believed on himself As the Sun-beams before its rising give some Light to the Earth § 30. 10. God hath commanded men that hear not of Christ the use of some means which Mercy hath through Christ afforded them which have a tendency to their Salvation and should be used to that end And his bare Command to use such means much more as seconded with abundance of Mercies tell us that he bids not men use them in vain or without any hope of good success of which before § 31. 11. He that heareth of Christ and believeth not or believeth uneffectually and is not a converted sound Believer is under God's Command to use certain means allowed him to procure Faith and true Conversion and that not without all hope of good success § 32. 12. It is God's ordinary way to give his first special converting Grace to predisposed Subjects prepared by his commoner Grace in which Preparation some Acts of Man have their part And the unprepared and undisposed cannot equally expect it § 33. 13. Faith and Repentance are Acts of Man and pre-requisite to Justification Therefore as Acts and Works are words of the same sence so Works even Works of Special Grace are pre-requisite to Justification Obj. But not as Acts but for the Object Answ. That 's a contradiction Christ is Christ whether we believe in him or not and it 's one thing to say Christ is necessary and another thing to say Believing in him is necessary It is not necessary meerly as an Act in genere but as this Act in specie and it is specified as is aforesaid by its Object Not only Christ believed in but Believing in Christ is pre-requisite as a moral disposition to Justification And in that sence a Work or Act of Man § 34. 14. It is before shewed that this Faith is a moral Work containing not one only but many physical acts He that believeth in Christ believeth in him as sent of God to reconcile us to God to bring us to Glory to save us from Iustice Sin and Enemies to sanctifie us by his Word and Spirit with many such acts that make up the Essence of saving-Saving-Faith This is the Work of God that ye believe on him whom the Father hath sent Joh. 6. 28 29. § 35. 15. The Faith that hath the Promise of Justification is essentially a subjecting our selves to Christ that is a taking him for our Lord and Saviour by Consent Which is a Consent to obey him for the future § 36. 16. Though this actual Obedience to Christ besides Subjection be not pre-requisite to our first being justified it is requisite to the Continuance of our Justification For we consented to obey that we might indeed obey and are perâ—idious if we do not § 37. 17. The World and Conscience will judge us much according to our Works § 38. 18. The same Law of Grace being the Rule of Duty and of Iudgment God will judge all men according to their Works required by that Law by justifying or condemning them § 39. 19. Final justification and glorification are the Rewards of Evangelical Obedience and the reason rendered of Christ's justifying Sentence Matth. 25. passim is from such acts of Man as qualifying them for the free Gift of God § 40. 20. There is a moral goodness in these Works of Man by which through Christ they are pleasing to God which is their aptitude to this acceptance and reward In all this I think all sober Christians must needs confess that they agree § 41. III. And as to the Case of Merit a few words with understanding men may dispatch it We are agreed on the negative 1. That no Man or Angel can merit of God in proper Commutative Justice giving him somewhat for his Benefits that shall profit him or to which
he had not absolute right 2. No man can merit any thing of God upon the terms of the Law of Innocency but Punishment 3. No man can merit any thing of God unless it be supposed first to be a free Gift and merited by Christ. § 42. And affirmatively we are I think agreed 1. That God governeth us by a Law of Grace which hath a Promise or Premiant part which giveth not the antecedent but many consequent benefits by way of Reward To deny the rewarding act is to deny God's Law and the manner of his Government § 43. 2. That God calleth it his Iustice to reward men according to his Law and give them what it gave them right to Insomuch that it is made the second Article of our Faith Heb. 11. 6. to believe that God is the rewarder of them that diligently seek him And he giveth it as a righteous Iudge 2 Tim. 4. 8. § 44. 3. That this supposeth that such Works of Man have a moral Aptitude for that Reward which consisteth in these things 1. That they are efficiently from God's Spirit 2. They are in their measure agreeable to God's governing Will. 3. They are done in Love to his glory and to please him 4. They are done by a Member of Christ. 5. They are profitable to Men our selves and others 6. The Habits and Acts are God's own Image 7. They have the Promise of his Reward 8. They are washed in the Blood of Christ that is Their faultiness is pardoned through his Merits 9. They are presented to God by Christ's Intercession 10. And lastly they are Man's Aptitude for the Reward in their very nature yea part of it themselves as they are of God Holiness being the beginning of Happiness or of that love of God which in its Perfection is Heaven it self Such an Aptitude as that a holy person cannot be miserable nor can God hate and damn a holy Soul that truly loveth and obeyeth him § 45. 4. This moral Aptitude for the Reward is amiable and pleasing to God and therefore he calleth the Reward in the Gospel usually 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 which properly signifieth Wages which men give by Commutative Iustice But that is only metaphorically because God that cannot be profited by man is yet pleased in that which profiteth our selves and one another and glorifieth him by declaring his Perfections And as if this were profiting him he calleth it Wages for some similitude but not in proper sence § 46. 5. This moral Aptitude for the Reward is called oft in Scripture Worthiness 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 which is of the same signification with Merit To be worthy and to deserve are here all one So that so far Merit Worthiness is a Scripture Phrase § 47. 6. This Worthiness or Merit is only in point of Paternal Governing-Iustice according to the Law of Grace ordering that which in it self is a free Gift merited by Christ. § 48. For no Man or Angel can have any thing of God but by free Gift What have we which we receive not when our being is of God Therefore it must be of governing ordering Iustice only The thing is a Gift but God will give this Gift to his Children so wisely as to the Order of it as shall be fittest to attain his ends Therefore it is not by Governing Justice after the Law of Innocency or Works but according to the Law of Grace So that the sum of the Solution is That 1. the Good received in its value as Good is of God as a Benefactor and a free Gift 2. But in Order of Collation it is of God as a wise and righteous Governour even a governing Father and so only it is a Reward and so it is merited § 49. This is easily understood by Parens who intend to give their Children freely out of meer love their Inheritance and what else they want And yet they will give them Gold or Clothes or Food in so wise a manner as shall engage them to their Duty and will say Put off your Hat and thank me or Do this or that which is for their own good and I will give you this Here it is a Gift as to the Goodness and a Reward as to the order of giving it § 50. 7. The ancient Christians as the Writings of all the Ancients commonly shew did use the word Merit without any scruple and I remember not that any Christians did ever gainsay it or take the use of it for a fault Yet did they contradict mens carnal erroneous Conceits of Man's Merit as well as we Yet now our opposition to Popery hath brought the word into so great distate with many good Protestants as that they take it to signifie some dangerous self-arrogating Doctrine So great is the power of Prejudice and Contest § 51. It is true That when Hereticks have put an ill sence upon a good word we must use it more cantelously than at other times and places But if thence we absolutely reject and â—ccuse it we shall harden our Adversaries and strengthen the Error which we oppose by running into the contrary extream which will soon disgrace it self § 52. It is a great advantage to the Papists that many Protestants wholly disclaim the word and simply deny the Merit of Gospel-obedience For hereupon the Teachers shew their Scholars that all the Fathers speak for Merit and so tell them that the Protestants Doctrine is new and heretical as being contrary to all the ancient Doctors And when their Scholars see it with their Eyes no wonder if they believe it to our dishonour § 53. All Orthodox Christians hold the fore-described Doctrine of Merit in sence though not in words For they that deny Merit confess the Rewardableness of our Obedience and confess that the Scripture useth the term Worthy and that 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 and 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 may be translated Meriting and Merit as well as Worthy and Worthiness and we think it fitter to expound such Scripture-words than to accuse and reject them And they all confess that man's Duty hath God's Promise of Reward and that Holiness in its nature is suitable to the End or Reward as disposing us to enjoy it and is pleasing unto God and glorifieth him And this is all the same thing in other words which the ancient Christians meant by Merit And to hear many godly persons at the same time most earnestly extol Holiness and desire that Preachers should convince the People that the Righteous is more excellent than his Neighbour and yet denying all Merit and reviling all that assert it this doth but shew that they understand not the word and think others also misunderstand it And so we are reproaching one another where we are agreed and know it not Like the Woman that turned away her Servant upon the Controversie Whether the House should be swept with a Broâ—m or with a Besom or the Physicians that let the Patient die because they could not agree
to this day § 8. God doth not impute Adam's Sin to us because he will do it without any real participation of ours no nor beyond our true natural participation but according to it Otherwise God should have made us sinners meerly because he â—ould do so and not Adam § 9. We receive our Original Guilt and Pravity immediately from our next Parents and but remotely from Adam It could never have come to us but through them from whom we receive our Nature from them we receive the guilt and pravity of our Nature § 10. Therefore thus far at least our next Parents communicate Guilt and Pravity to us and not Adam only In which we see that God's Imputation goeth along with real Natural Participation § 11. It seemeth to me a strange oversight in too many Divines who deny or observe not our Guilt of all the rest of our Parents Sins while we were in their Loins as well as of Adam's seeing 1. there is that same reason of both save what the change of the Covenant maketh of which after And 2. Scripture is so full and express about it § 12. 1st If I have a guilty and deprayed Soul from my Parents it is because I was once in them Virtually or Seminally as truly and naturally as I was in Adam And had not the Guilt been theirs it had never been miâ—e And if it be mine because it was theirs why not one part of theirs as well as another § 13. It will be said Because God so Covenanted with Adam that he should stand or fall for himself and his Posterity I Answer That there was any such Covenant that if he stood his Posterity should all stand or be Confirmed and Saved is more than ever I found in Scripture or can prove or do believe But that it would have been to the benefit of his Posterity I doubt not And that his fall was to the Guilt and Corruption of his Posterity I doubt not but as I said not without and beyond their natural Interest in him and Derivation from him as the reason of it And we were as much naturally in our next Parents And the Covenant of Innocency and the Covenant of Grace do not so far differ as to exempt us from the Guilt of our next Parents sins For the difference lieth not in this That the first only made Death the due reward of all Sin nor that the first did interest Children in the Guilt of their Parents sin But in this that the first made us Guilty without a Remedy But the second giveth us a Remedy presently for Pardon and Recovery and so our Guilt is not so full because it is but a half Obligation having the Pardon annexed The first Law said If thou sin thou shalt be filius mortis and so shall those that are Propagated of thee The second Covenant saith For thy Original and Actual Sin death is thy due but I give thee a Pardon and Remedying Grace procured by the Righteousness of Christ. But note That this Covenant pardoneth our Original Sin as from Adam And yet it followeth not that we had none because it is pardoned Even so it pardoneth our guilt of our next Parents sins and therefore we had it to be pardoned Both are pardonable to us therefore we had both § 14. 2. And the Scripture is more copious and as plain in making punishment due to Children for their next Parents sins as for Adam's though Adam's only was the Original of all Sin and Misery I have elsewhere proved it at large The Case of Cain's Posterity and Cham's and Ishmael's and Esau's and Achan's Family and Ahab's and many more do fully prove it And more fully the Second Commandment and God's declaration of his Name to Moses Exod. 34. and many a Threatning to the Seed of the Wicked and Christ's express Words in Matth. 23. 36. so that Scripture puts us out of doubt § 15. The common Objection is that their Guilt would be greater on us towards the End of the World than on them at the Beginning because all our Ancestours Guilt would be ours But I answer 1. If it were so it would be but many Obligations to the same Punishment when it amounteth to that which God seeth our Nature capable of For a Finite Worm is not capable of more Suffering than is proportioned to his Nature 2. And this Objection vainly supposeth that none of our Ancestours Sins were pardoned Whereas all are pardoned to the Faithful and their Seed and much Temporal Punishment is pardoned to many of the Unsanctified And God himself by limiting it to the third and fourth Generation seemeth to set bounds to his own Justice 3. And the Guilt of our Parents Sins being of a more Diminute Nature than that of our own Actual Sin Coeteris paribus it falleth not so fully on us as it did on the Committers themselves nor as our own do 4. And God offereth us the full pardon of our own and all together And as long as the Law which tells us of our desert of punishment doth also give us a free pardon we have no Cause to complain § 16. That we have all Original Sin is proved in that else Infants should be saved without a pardoning Saviour or a cleansing Sanctifier which cannot be § 17. He that seeth the universal inclination of Mankind to Evil even in their Childhood and their backwardness to Good even that Evil and that Good which Nature it self assureth us are such must needs believe Original Pravity or else think hardly of God's Work § 18. He that seeth still that Drunkenness Gluttony Lust c. do vitiate both the Soul and Bodily Temperament of the Sinner and how frequently a diseased distempered Body inclining Men to particular Vices and an extraordinarily vitiated Soul is in their Children the plain fruit of the Parents Sin may the easilier believe that we drew down Pravity from Adam also when we derive so much from nearest Parents § 19. And they that consider that Mans Soul being made Holy for God this unholiness is not only a Negation but a Privation not of Sensitive and Natural only but of Moral Rectitude will not deny but that the name of Sin or Moral Pravity belongeth to it § 20. And they that consider that Parents Cause not Children as an Artificer maketh an Engine but by Generation which is a Communication of their own Essence and what Natural Interest Parents and Children have in each other and that it is real Sin that is in both and that the Moral Privation in its Nature containeth much of Mans misery will easily grant that it is both a Sin and Punishment and a Moral Cause of further punishment properly enough so called § 21. They that lay that Reason of their denying Original Sin upon the difficulty of understanding whether Souls are new Created or Derived from Parents do too little suspect their frail understandings and their own â—deductions and too easily suspect the
Common Covenant And their peculiar Promise to Abraham's Seed as the Nations Blessing with their Types and Prophecies all led them to Christ more plainly than he was revealed to others § 13. The Law as such an Appendix contained Preceptively the Decalegue as the Summary and stamina and the particular Determinations under it as belonging to the First and Second Table For all those not accurately distinguished as Moral Political and Ceremonial are but the particular Determinations of the things only Generally expressed in the Decalogue according to which they are fitlier distributed § 14. It pleased God to make the particular Precepts about Worship and Political Converse so many and the Sacrifices so Costly and the Penalties so Severe as that it became a very operous Employment to do the External Acts of it which the People made a Snare of to themselves For 1. Thereby they were so taken up with the outward Work that they neglected the inward spiritual exercises of the Soul without which all the rest are dead and carnal things 2. And they hereby grew into so high a conceit with the Letter of the Law it self and these External Duties as that they thought the very doing of them was enough to make them just and acceptable to God and forgot the true Doctrine of the Promised Messiah and Righteousness by him 3. And hereby they grew Proud as if they had for these Externals been so much better than all other People that all the World was Abominable save they 4. And they were so intent on the present Political Punishments to be escaped or suffered and Rewards to be won or lost that they much overlook'd the everlasting Punishments and Rewards And this Corruption increased till Christ came to Cure it who found the Sâ—ducees not believing a Life to come and the Phariseâ—s deceived by their External Legal Works and Righteousness and most of the People too ignorant of the true Spiritual Righteousness required by the Law it self § 15. It may seem to some a difficult Question whether God by such a Law made them Happier or Worse than the rest of the World And whether Christ's Abrogation of it was not a returning them to the common easier and better Condition of Mankind Ans. 1. You must know that though God made a common Covenant of Grace with Mankind the rest of the Nations about them were fall'n into Ignorance and Idolatry and the Jewish Law much tended to cure both and to make them better know God and the meaning of the Covenant of Grace and to return to him from Idols and worship him aright So that the Jews were happier than other Nations 2. The abuse of their Law was through their fault and folly and the Law by the faithful among them was better understood and used 3. Christ after setting up a better Covenant in its stead did bring the Church into a better state than the Jews were But the Unbelievers and idolatrous World that had not Christ's better Covenant were still left in a worse state than the Jews were before Christ's Incarnation § 16. And God by this operous Law would humble the Jews that by their peculiarity were apt to be puffed up with Pride And as all his works grow to Perfection by degrees even the Works of Grace in particular Souls so did his Means of Grace and the welfare of his Church which was to begin at their Rudiments and grow up to better means and knowledge yet so that all were to be judged according to the Law that they were under § 17. It is this operous Law of Moses which Paul meaneth usually by the Law of Works and the old or former Covenant and neither the Law or Covenant of Innocency made to Adam nor yet as if this Law of Moses were of the same Tenor or Conditions and so called a Covenant of Works as making Innocency its Condition But this Law which was an Appendix to the Law of Grace and was a peculiar Law of Grace it self is called The Law of Works because of the great and burdensome and costly Externals before mentioned and because as a political Law it so much insisteth comparatively on those Externals and the Doctrine of Grace is comparatively more obscure in it than in the Gospel and because the Jews had by their abusive Interpretation overvalued the Externals and operous Ceremonies and Sacrifices of it § 18. The mistake of Paul's meaning in this Phrase the Law of Works or old Covenant hath led some men to a new frame of Theology in a great part and engaged others in Errors and fruitless Contentions § 19. By the words He that doth these things shall live by them as distinguished from believing Paul meant not that the Condition of the Jewish Covenant of Peculiarity or Law was the same perfect Innocency as was required in the first Law of Adam for when Man was actually guilty it was impossible that he should ever become one that had not sinned And we must not put such a scorn on the infinitely wise and righteous Governour of the World as to suppose him to have such a Law or Covenant as this If you that are sinners are not sinners you shall be saved much less to make this a Covenant of peculiar favour § 20. Nor doth Paul mean That the Laws Condition was If you will never sin more I will pardon all that 's past For God never made such a Law with man not to sin being morally impossible to them and Pardon never offered on such terms § 21. To put all out of doubt 1. God before hand proclaimed the Name of that God from whom they received their Law Exod. 34. 6 7. The Lord the Lord God merciful and gracious long suffering and abundant in goodness and truth keeping Mercy for thousands forgiving iniquity transgrâ—ssion and sin though he will by no means clear the guilty That is He will not judge a Sinner to be no Sinner nor the Wicked to be Godly nor pardon and save any contrary to the established terms of his Covenant 2. And the Law it self hath many express means of forgiveness of Sin appointed as sacrificing confessing c. which sheweth that it was a Law of Grace § 22. By the Law Paul usually meaneth the written Law of Moses as contained in the very words now in our Bibles As by the Word of God we usually mean the Scripture Therefore though it contain much of the Law of Nature yet as a written Law and part of a Law of Peculiarity and Policy of that Nation even the Decalogue may be said to be done away though as the Law of Nature and of Christ it still remain § 23. By the Works of the Law then which Paul mostly disputeth of and by He that doth these things shall live in them is meant That this Law besides the sweet and easie Precepts of faith and Love did as part of the Matter of the Jews Obedience require abundance of burdensome Externals and he that
Believers or consent to the Covenant of Grace if at age 3. These penitent Believers sins are pardoned virtually before they are committed supposing them but Sins of Insirmity but this is properly no Pardon nor so to be called because it is but the position of those things which will cause Pardon hereafter To be only virtual is not to exist but to be in causis But it is too grosly inferred hence by some That it is not God then that actually justifieth but Man that performeth the Condition as if the Condition which is but a suspension of the Donation and the performance a removal of the suspending Cause were the donative Efficient and so the Receiver were the Giver As if he that opened the window were the Sun or efficient Cause of the Light or he that lets off a Crossbow by removing the Stop were the spring that effecteth the motion of the Arrow § 62. Neither Pardon nor Justification are perfect before death For there are some correcting Punishments to be yet born some Sins not fully destroyed some Grace yet wanting more Sins to be forgiven more Conditions thereof to be performed The final and executive Pardon and Justification are only perfect CHAP. XXII Of the Imputation of Righteousness § 1. THE great Contentions that have been about this Point tell us how needfull it is to distinguish between real and verbal Controversies The opening of the Doctrine of Redemption before Chap. XI hath done most that is needful to the solution of this Case we are commonly agreed in these following Points § 2. 1. That no man hath a Righteousness of his own performance by which he could be justified were he to be judged by the Law of Innocency that is all are Sinners and deserve everlasting Death § 3. 2. That Jesus the Mediator undertook to fulfil all the Law which God the Father gave him even the Law of Nature the Law of Moses and that which was proper to himself that thereby God's Wisdom Goodness Truth Justice and Mercy might be glorified and the ends of God's Government be better attained than by the Destruction of the sinful World and all this he performed in our Nature and suffered for us in our stead and was the second Adam or Root to Believers § 4. 3. That for this as the meritorious Cause God hath given him power over all Flesh that he might give eternal Life to as many as are drawn to him by the Father and given him Joh. 17. 2. He is Lord of all and all power in Heaven and Earth is given him Matth. 28. 19. and he is made Head over all things to the Church Eph. 1. 22 23. Rom. 14. 9 And for these his Merits a Covenant or Law of Grace is made to sinful Man by which all his sins are freely pardoned and Right to Impunity and Life is freely given him if he will accept it and penitently turn to God § 5. 4. Whenever a man is pardoned and justified or hath Right to Life this Law of Grace doth it as God's donative Instrument And whoever is so pardoned and justified it is for and by these Merits of Christ's Righteousness § 6. 5. But Christ doth initially pardon and justifie none by this Covenant but penitent Believers and therefore hath made it our Duty to repent and believe that we may be forgiven and have right to life as the Condition without which his donative and condonative Act shall be suspended § 7. 6. God never judgeth falsely but knoweth all things to be what they are And therefore he reputeth Christ's meritorious Righteousness and Sacrifice to be the meritorious Cause of all mens Justification who are justified and of the conditional Pardon of all the World 2 Cor. 5. 18 19 20. and as sufficient and effectual to the assigned ends as our own personal righteousness or suffering would have been and more though it be not so ours as that of our own performance would have been nor so immediately give us our Right to Impunity and Life but mediately by the Covenant § 8. 7. And as God reputeth Christ's Righteousness to be the prime meritorious Cause for which we are justified by the Law of Grace as afore-said so he truly reputeth our own Faith and Repentance or Covenant-consent to be our moral Qualification for the gift and our Holiness and Perseverance to be our moral Qualification for final Iustification and Glory which Qualification being the matter of the Command of the Law of Grace and the Condition of its Promise is so far our righteousness indeed and oft so called in the Scripture as is aforesaid § 9. 8. Therefore God may in this Sence be truly said both to impute righteousness to us and to impute Christ's righteousness to us and to impute our Faith for righteousness to us in several respects § 10. Thus much being commonly agreed on should quiet the Minds of Divines that are not wise and righteous overmuch and it beseemeth us not to make our arbitrary Words and Notions about the Doctrine of our Peace with God to be Engines to break the Church's Peace seeing Angels preached to us this great Truth That Christ came into the World for GLORY to God in the highest and for PEACE on Earth and for GOOD-WILL or LOVE from God to Man or mutual complaâ—ency and his Servants should not turn his Gospel into matter of strife § 11. That which we are yet disagreed about is the Names and Notions following As 1. What is meant by the Phrase of Imputing in several Texts of Scripture as Rom. 4. 11. That righteousness might be imputed or reckoned to them also Ans. The words seem to me to have no difficulty but what men by wrangling put into them To have righteousness impuâ—ed to them is to be reputed judged or accounted as righteous Men and so used the cause being not in the Phrasâ— it self but fore-described § 12. So what is meant Rom. 4. 6. by imputing righteousness without works Ans. Plainly reputing or judging a man righteous without the works which Paul there meaneth § 13. So what is meant by Not imputing sin Psal. 32. 2. 2 Cor. 5. 19. Rom. 5. 13. Lev. 7. 18. 1 Sam. 22. 15. 2 Sam. 19. 19. Rom. 4. 8 Ans. Not-judging a man as a Sinner guilty of punishment not charging his sin upon him in Judgment which is as 2 Sam. 19. 19. c. because he is not truly guilty or as Rom. 4. 8. c. because he is forgiven § 14. 2. What is meant by imputing our Faith to us for righteousness But of that more purposely anon § 15. 3. Whether imputing Christ's righteousness to us be a Scripture-phrase Ans. Not that I can find § 16. 4. Whether it be a fit or lawful Phrase and whether in so great matters departing from Scripture-phrase and pretending it necessary so to do be not adding to God's Word or the cause of Corruptions and Divisions in the Church and an intimation that we can speak better than the