not or whilst an Unbeliever or before he believed And is it not good nay best to keep to the form of sound Words For tho it is said that God justifies the Vngodly yet they are not ungodly when justified true that excludes all previous Qualifications to Faith but not that God justifies an Unbeliever that is in his Sins in the first Adam Obj. Is it not Christ and his Righteousness that which justifies us or is the matter of our Justification Will ye make Faith to be a Cause or the condition of our Justification before God Answ No by no means tho I know some Learned Men and sound in the Faith seem to hint as if Faith was a condition of our Justification But how that which God himself gives to us by his free and absolute Promises can be a condition of the Covenant or of our Justification I see not that which is part of the Covenant on God's part can't be the Condition of it on our part Also they call Faith the instrumental cause of Justification which we must leave them to explain they mean I think but as the Hand that applies a Plaister is a cause of the Cure We must say with a late learned Author Faith is no qualifying Condition nor any procuring Cause of our Justification tho without Faith God declares no Man a justified Person 2. Faith doth not cause or render the Satisfaction of Christ any ways the more satisfactory unto God for God was as much satisfied in Christ for his Elect before Faith as after tho the Satisfaction Merits and Righteousness of Christ are not applied so as the Man is pronounced a justified Person until he is united to Christ by the Spirit and so is help'd to believe on him Faith being the Hand that receives or that apprehends Jesus Christ Brethren The Holy Spirit in our Union with Christ puts upon us the Robe of Righteousness which was not upon us before we obtained that Spiritual Union it is offered unto all but it is upon all them that believe All our Orthodox Divines agree with us that Faith neither as a Habit or Grace or as an Act much less in respect of the Fruits thereof justifies us when therefore 't is said we are justified by Faith it intends not any Moral or Physical Causality in Faith as a Qualification but only by virtue of the Object it apprehends Mr. Bradford that Holy Martyr saith Not the Action it self of believing as it is a quality in Man doth so deserve but because it taketh that Dignity and Virtue from the Object Jesus Christ We do not mean that Faith by it self and of it self doth justify us which is only as an Instrument whereby we apprehend Christ who is our Justice Faith was accounted to Abraham for Righteousness not the action by which but that which he did believe or Faith not in respect of it self apprehending but in respect of the Object apprehended Faith justifies a Sinner in the sight of God not because of those other Graces that do always accompany it or of good Works which are the Fruits thereof nor as if the Grace of Faith or any act thereof were imputed to him for Justification but only as an Instrument by which he receiveth and applieth Christ and his Righteousness For any to say otherwise is to render Faith to be part of our Reconciliation or Satisfaction to God which is to lessen the Merits of Christ and take the Crown from his Head and make Justification not to be by Grace alone or by Christ alone Faith we know is the Creatures act tho given of God or a Grace bestowed upon us by which we are helped so to do yet with the Heart Man belâ—eveth c. The Doctrine of some Men about Faith justifying the Sinner tends to bring in a new Covenant of Works i.e. a mild Law of Faith and sincere Obedience in the stead of the severe Law of perfect Obedience and plainly renders the Satisfaction and Righteousness of Christ defective or insufficient as if Faith was part of our justifying Righteousness or as if we were not fully reconciled to God by the death of his Son but that he was only reconcileable and that it is Faith and sincere Obedience indeed which compleats that Reconciliation Brethren Faith I say again is said to justify us only in respect of the Object Jesus Christ whom it apprehended and it is no part of the matter which doth justify us the Righteousness of Christ being alone the material cause of our Justification nor doth Faith add any thing to Christ's Satisfaction or to his Righteousness which alone is imputed to us to our Justification before God Tho we say that Righteousness is not imputed to the actual and personal Justification of any Man till he has actual Union with Christ yet I deny that Faith in order of Nature is before Union or at least before the reception of the Spirit in order to Union tho not as to time for Christ takes hold of us before we can take hold of him also Faith is a Fruit of the Spirit and sure the Seed must be sown before there can be Fruit. We are passive in Regeneration but not in the act of Faith But when a poor Sinner receives the Spirit then it is that he in his own Person is declared and pronounced righteous he being in Christ is pardoned and actually acquitted and discharged from that Legal Guilt or from that Obligation he lay under to Condemnation in the first Adam the Sentence being then taken off and he loosed from those Fetters and Chains by which he was before bound and this therefore is more no doubt than simply justified in his own Conscience For tho Christ as our Surety when he rose from the dead received a full discharge for us yet until we are united by the Spirit unto him by which Faith is wrought in our Souls and our Eyes are inlightned we have not this great Blessing made over to us Mind that Passage of the Apostle again By whom now we have received the Atonement Now the Case is altered now we are in Christ Jesus Brethren we have not the Portion until we have the Person now the Law 's Sentence and Condemnation can no more reach us now that Husband is dead that cruel Husband and we are married unto another now we are actually acquitted or not till now personally justified Some add justified Foro Dei or in God's sight but so expressing it I fear hath clouded the matter because known to God before him or in his sight were all his Works from everlasting Justified before God may be taken two ways 1. In distinction from that before Men or in a Man 's own Conscience if they mean that I grant it 2. In respect had to that sight he hath of things who calls things and seeth things that are not as if they were As Abraham is called the Father of many
save others as he did c. Ans Take Dr. Owen's as to this viz. The Apostle declares that as Adam's actual Sin is imputed unto us to Condemnation so is the Obedience of Christ imputed unto us to the Justification of Life but Adam's Sin is not so imputed unto any Person as that he should then and thereby be the cause of Sin and Condemnation unto all other Persons in the World but only that he himself should become guilty before God thereon And so is it on the other side and as we are made guilty of Adam's actual Sin which is not inherent in us but only imputed unto us so are we made righteous by the Righteousness of Christ which is not inherent in us but only imputed unto us and with it not for himself but for us Object The Effects of Christ's Righteousness c. are imputed to us Answ Saith the Doctor In this Imputation the thing is first imputed unto us and not any of the Effects of it but they are ours by virtue of that Imputation To say that the Righteousness of Christ that is his Obedience and Sufferings are imputed to us only in their Effects is to say that we have the benefit of them and no more but Imputation it self is denied so say saith he the Socinians Again he saith The Righteousness of Christ is imputed unto us as unto its Effects hath this sound Sense in it viz. that the Effects of it are made ours by reason of that Imputation it is so imputed so reckoned unto us of God as that he readily communicates all the Effects of it unto us but to say the Righteousness of Christ is not imputed unto us but the Effects only is really to overthrow all Imputation But Mr. Clark says 'T is the Righteousness of God by which we are justified not the Righteousness of Christ He will not have it be the Righteousness of him that was God or take it in that Sense but that Righteousness that God hath ordained and instituted for our Justification viz. our Faith and sincere Obedience Answ We do not only say it was the Righteousness of him that was God as well as Man but also that Righteousness which God hath found out and approves of as agreeing with his Holy Nature and infinite Justice and Purity of his Law That he might be just not the essential Righteousness of God but the Righteousness of Christ as Mediator Who of God is made to us Wisdom and Righteousness c. Where pray hath God made our imperfect Righteousness a Righteousness to justify us at his Bar I am perswaded this Man would not willingly be found in his own Righteousness at Death let it be never so sincere Ay but we must take the Scripture in the plain literal Sense about Justification this he much harps at tho his Notion by thus doing brings in Justification by Works which the Apostle shews is inconsistent and directly contrary to Grace Rom. 11.6 Works are Works whether Law-Works or Gospel-Works He argues much as the Papists in another case and upon as grand a Point Thou art Peter and upon this Rock will I build my Church I will appeal to all whether the Words in the Letter do not seem to run smoother for the Papists i.e. for the Church to be built upon Peter than upon Christ that Peter confessed And so this is my Body c. Mr. Clark cries out against puzling perplexing Distinctions and taking Faith Metonymically i. e. for the Object of Faith tho it is clearly imply'd and that way only it beareth a true Analogy of Faith I infer saith he that we are not justified by the active Righteousness of Christ or his Obedience to the Law of Works imputed to us for then a Man would be justified by the Law and by the Deeds and Works thereof as much to be reckon'd his own as if they were done personally by himself for that is their Sense of Justification then we are justified by the Law or Covenant of Works in a Legal and in an Evangelical way for then the Law is fully satisfied by Christ our Surety and we stand recti curiâ and the Law has nothing to say to us or charge us withal as if a Surety in Bond pay the full Debt the Creditor has no Action against the principal Debtor and there 's no Favour at all show'd him in his Discharge Answ In all Places where in the New Testament it is said a Man is not cannot be justified by the Works of the Law or by the Deeds of the Law 't is evident that the Apostle speaks of that Obedience to the Law that frail depraved and impotent Man is able to yield thereunto and the Reason why no Man can be justified hereby is 1. Because he hath both originally and actually broken it and as it admits of no pardon for what is past so also it affords no strength to keep it for time to come Hence what the Law could not do God sent his own Son What for Was it only to make God amends for our Breach of it and so to purchase a new a milder and better Law of Works c No sure Where is there the least shadow of proof for this See what this Gentleman 's Reverend Father saith speaking of Christ's fulfilling the Law for us he saith That it was not meerly Obedience but a meriting Obedience there was an intrinsick Worth and Excellency in Christ's Obedience answering to our Salvation Hence tho we have Justification of meer Grace yet in respect of Christ it was Justice and Debt so that in Christ the Covenant of Works was fulfilled tho in us the Covenant of Grace This Work Christ finished and compleated First In that he did it wholly and universally there was not one Tittle of the Law which he did not fulfil Secondly He finished it universally for Parts and not only so but fully for Degrees He did not only love God but loved him as much as the Law requires all that he did was so fully done that there wanted not the least Degree of Grace in any Duty Thirdly Because he had not only an Objective Perfection in Parts and Degrees but also a Subjective all within was throughly and perfectly holy So that as we are originally and actually polluted he was originally and actually holy so that the Law had no fault to find with him Fourthly He finished it in respect of Duration the Law requiring continuance tho there were Perfection of Parts and Degrees and subjective Perfection also Yet cursed is he that continueth not therein Again he saith For to obey the Law of God and to suffer all the Wrath that was due to our Sins was a bitter Cup to drink Thus Christ fulfilled the Law for us as our Surety and in him it was fulfilled in us there being a Legal or Law-Union between him and us Now since this perfect this compleat and constant Obedience to the Law was our
Duty and that Debt we owed to God Dare you deny Christ as our Surety paid it Certainly had he not fulfilled the Preceptory part of the Law as well as born the Penal part for us we could not be justified from the Charge and Curse thereof But why must we because we say Surety hath done this be justified by the Law or Covenant of Works Are we Saviours or Mediators because we have his Righteousness imputed to us of meer Grace Is the Debtor the Surety because the Surety's Payment is accepted for him The old Covenant-Righteousness was an inherent Righteousness a Righteousness in a Man's self i. e. Adam's own Righteousness not a Righteousness imputed but inherent the Righteousness of your new Law is a Legal or Law-Righteousness and looks more like an old Covenant-Righteousness because 't is inherent or infused into you not put upon you or imputed to you as being wrought out for you without you And Sir is there no favour shewed to us because our Surety has paid this Debt Was it not great Love great Grace and Favour for God to accept of a Surety nay to substitute his own Son in our stead to satisfy all the Demands of the Law and Justice True we are not simply dealt with in a way of Mercy I mean pardoned only but in a way of Justice and Righteousness also Justification has more than Pardon in it as your Notion allows we found not the Surety but God found him therefore all is of God's free Grace tho also all is by the Obedience of Christ i. e. by his keeping Law for us and dying in our stead To plead for a Righteousness by Obedience to any mild Law is no other than to plead for a Legal Righteousness in our selves to justify us and that is as opposite to the Righteousness of God as the trusting in the Moral and Ceremonial Law it being opposite to Grace the Righteousness therefore of the Law by which no Flesh can be justified is a Righteousness rested in or trusted to that is inherent in us whatsoever Thoughts a Person may have of it i. e. as perfectly or only sincerely kept But to proceed Did not God send his Son that the Righteousness of the Law might be fulfilled in us c that is in our Nature in our Head Christ and Believers as I said before are one in a Law-sense and evident it is that the Righteousness of the Law is not fulfilled in us in Sanctification because that is imperfect that is far from fulfilling it and there is no other way it can be said to be fulfilled in us but by imputation Moreover by Christ's coming to keep the Law in our Nature God hath magnified the Law and made it honourable and hereby we do not make void the Law through Faith but establish the Law in that the Son of God in Man's Nature yielded perfect Obedience thereto and died for our breach of it whose Obedience is ours by imputation to our Justification at his Bar. Pray observe that through Faith we attain a perfect Righteousness i. e. are interested in the most compleat Obedience of Christ to the Moral Law but now if Christ only satisfied for our breach of the Law by his Death and his perfect active Obedience has no hand in or is not the material Cause of our Justification before God how do we by believing in him establish the Law I say the Righteousness of the Law which is so called which the Apostle decries as unable to justify us is a resting in or trusting to our inperfect Conformity to it or to any other Law tho never so sincerely performed for this sort of Righteousness is always opposed to the Righteousness of Faith or of Grace If it be of Works of any Works whatsoever it is not of Grace all works of sincere Obedience to any Law of God are alike materially good But God has not ordained any Law of sincere Obedience to justify us because Grace excludeth all Works done by us in point of Justification in God's Sight We can no more be justified by the Law of the Gospel i.e. the New Law than by the Old Mr. Clark says The Justification Paul speaks of in the Romans and that which James speaks of is the same And further he says to be justified by Faith according to Paul and by Works according to James is all one Justification by Works springing from Faith is Justification by Faith in this Sense Answ Now we and the Orthodox say that Paul speaks of our Justification before God or of the Person James of the Justification of our Faith good Works demonstrating our Faith to be of the right kind or do declare to Men and to our own Consciences that we are justified Persons Paul speaks of the Justification of a Sinner James of the Justification of a Believer as it is said the People justified God that is declared he was just so our Gospel-Works springing from Faith declare that our Faith is true and we sincere Believers Yet he would have his Reader believe he is no Heterodox Person in this Point Paul speaks of Justification and Absolution of a Sinner at God's Bar through the Imputation of Christ's Righteousness James speaks of the Manifestation or Declaration of that Justification to the Conscience Paul speaks of the cause of our Justification before God James of the signs of it before Men. Paul speaks of the Imputation of Righteousness James of the Declaration of Righteousness Paul speaks of the Office of Faith by God's Ordination as it apprehends Christ c. James of the quality of Faith or of its own excellent Virtue Paul speaks of the Justification of a Person James of the Justification of the Faith of that Person Paul speaks of Abraham how justified James of Abraham's good Works as already justified and as declaring him so to be Paul speaks of Justification in a proper Sense as God's gracious act through Christ's Righteousness whereby a Man is imputed or counted Just and Righteous in God's Sight James speaks of Justification whereby we are not made Just before God but declared to be justified being sincere Believers and free from Hypocrisy Paul had to do with Legal and Judaizing Christians such who either brought in a Law or a self-Righteousness instead of God's Grace in imputing Christ's Righteousness or else setting up an inherent Righteousness with it as these Men do now And James had to do with such who might be justly called Antinomians i.e. such that abused the Grace of God or Doctrine of free Grace to encourage themselves in Sin boasting of a false and presumptuous Faith a dead Faith Now James's work is to shew the effects and nature of true Faith therefore he speaks not of Justification in a proper Sense when he says Abraham was justified by Works but declaratively only Faith wrought not with Abraham's Works in the Justification of his Person at God's Bar but in declaring and evincing that his
Shew you why such who are in Jesus Christ shall not cannot come into a state of Condemnation IV. Shew you what kind of Persons they are which are in Christ Jesus V. Apply it I. The first Proposition is this viz. That all Mankind even the Elect as well as others are under Condemnation before their actual Vnion with Jesus Christ 1. This I shall prove 2. Apply First Because the Elect as 〈◊〉 as others fell in the first Adam and by virtue of the fall they were brought under Condemnation Therefore as by the Offence of one Judgment came upon all Men to Condemnation even so c. not one Soul of all his Posterity escaped the Sentence Judgment and Condemnation past not upon Adam for his first Sin as a single Person but as he was a common Head a publick Person or the Representative of all Mankind that proceed from his loins that Sentence that past upon Adam unto Condemnation as he was a publick Person passed upon all Men in him even the Elect as well as others but the Sentence passed upon Adam unto Condemnation as he was a publick Person therefore that Sentence passed upon all Men in him even upon the Elect as well as others Secondly All Men even the Elect as well as others before Faith or their actual Union with Jesus Christ are under Sin and horrid Guilt they are all gone out of the way they are together become unprofitable there is none that doeth good no not one Mind what the Apostle affirms ver 9. For we have before proved both Jews and Gentiles that they are all under Sin that is under the Power Guilt and Condemnation of Sin I am my Brethren but a doing of that which Paul laboured to do But further to prove and demonstrate that this is so 1st Evident it is that all are born in Sin all come into the World with the stain and guilt of Original Sin upon them Behold I was shapen in Iniquity and in Sin did my Mother conceive me Moreover how doth Paul aggravate this Sin and bewail himself for it this is beloved the Fountain and Root of all Sin our corrupt Nature proceedeth from Original Sin the first transgression Can Man be clean that is born of a Woman Adam begat a Son in his own likeness i.e. a sinful Creature like guilty and unclean as himself not in God's likeness having his Image resembling him no but contrariwise was more like unto Satan and resembling him than God There are three things in this Sin as it is noted by a worthy Writer 1. A particular Act which he did namely the breaking the Law of the first Covenant 2. The legal Guilt that flowed from that Act both upon his own Person and upon all his Posterity by Imputation 3. That Natural pravity and corruption of our whole Nature in Soul and Body the whole Man being defiled And from hence comes Wrath and Condemnation upon all Men. Now Brethren let me here add one thing to your consideration viz. tho Adam fell by this Sin in his own Person under Condemnation as well as we in him yet afterwards when he believed and received by Faith the free promise of God in the Seed of the Woman he came into a Justified State Adam no doubt was an Elect Person the promise of Christ being directly made to him who was also a Figure of him that was to come But now it would follow that if the Elect were never under the Sentence of Wrath and Condemnation then Adam notwithstanding what I have said was not and if Adam was not in his own Person under it for his first Sin then none of his Seed or Posterity were But how absurd and contrary such a Notion is to Truth I leave to all Mens Consideration 2ly As all Men are under Sin and Guilt by Original Transgression so they are also by their own actual Sins the Wages of Sin is Death yea eternal Death for there is no difference for all have sinned and come short of the Glory of God Originally there is no difference in respect of Sin and Guilt nor actually neither between Jews and Gentiles the Elect and Reprobates in respect of their State before Grace 3ly This also further appears because the Elect before they are in Christ are by Nature the Children of Wrath as well as others Our sinful Nature is the proper object of God's Wrath every one having a natural aversness to God in them yea an antipathy to him and enmity in their Carnal Minds against him and hence also it is said that God hates and is angry with all the Workers of Iniquity Thirdly All Men before Grace and Union with Jesus Christ are in a State of Condemnation because they are all under the Covenant of Works and if all Unbelievers are under the Covenant of Works then they are under Guilt and Wrath. Now we know that whatsoever the Law saith it saith to them who are under Law that every mouth might be stopped and all the World may become guilty before God that is obnoxious to God's just Judgment and Condemnation Christ is the end of the Law to every one that believeth Not to any other not to any one that believeth not If Believers only are in the new Covenant or Covenant of Grace then all that are in a state of Unbelief are in the Covenant of Works and so under the Curse and Condemnation of the Law For all must be in one or the other Covenant and in the first or second Adam Brethren the Sentence of the Law lies upon the Elect before they are in Christ tho Christ hath received their Discharge for them yet in their own Persons they are not acquitted Sirs Christ came only to redeem them that were under the Law and the Curse thereof And now if the Elect were not under the Law and the Curse who were they that he came to redeem it appears they were not the Elect by this strange Notion nor indeed if it be as some hint the Elect had no need of Redemption for if not under Guilt Wrath and Condemnation what Redemption did they need But when the fulness of time came God sent forth his Son made of a Woman made under the Law to redeem them that were under the Law that we might receive the adoption of Sons Fourthly That the Elect as well as others before Union c. are under the Curse of the Law and Condemnation appears because Christ bore the Curse of the Law and was condemned for them or in their stead if they were not under the Curse of the Law Why did God lay Jesus Christ our Surety under the Curse thereof Christ hath redeemed us from the Curse of the Law being made a Curse for us How redeemed from that which we were never under Now there is a twofold Curse of the Law 1. An Original Curse in Adam this
but the Notion of Mr. Clark and his Abettors certainly tends to raze and root out that antient Doctrine which the Apostles preached and those worthy Men laboured to restore about Justification Did Bellarmine ever deny that their good Works and inherent Holiness which they made the matter of their Justification before God were performed by the Grace of God and the Assistance of the Holy Spirit This Man only excludes legal Works from having any thing to do in our Justificâ—â—â—on but includes all Gospel-Works and sincere Oâ—edience he asserts these kind of Works and free â—â—ace are consistent and because not derogatory in point of Salvation therefore not in Justification He says that we must allow of Gospel-Works or Holiness to concur to Justification and this Doctrine will appear c. Answ Yet he would feign insinuate that this Doctrine of his is in effect the same with that of the old received Doctrine of our Divines who teach saith he That the sola fides solum yet not fides sola i.e. solitaria justificat tho Faith alone yet not that Faith which is alone does justify What 's the Purport of this Why because the Faith of God's Elect by which alone we apprehend or receive the Object Jesus Christ by whom we are justified is attended with good Fruits as Sanctification and Holiness by which it is known from a false and dead Faith therefore Faith good Works and Holiness is the matter or that which doth justify us before God or because Faith in respect of its own excellent Nature doth purify and sanctify us therefore God hath instituted and ordained Faith and inherent Holiness to justify us and because inherent Holiness and Sanctification tends to make us meet for Heaven therefore it is our only Title for Heaven Is it not said that God imputes Righteousness without Works and justifies him that works not How then do Works concur with or are included or joined with that Righteousness that is our Justification before God Take a Passage of Reverend Perkins viz. It is objected that true Faith is never alone I answer saith he thus Faith is never alone in the Person justified nor in Godly Conversation but is joined with all other Vertues yet in the act and office of Justification it is alone the Eye in the Body is not alone being joined with all other Parts Hand Foot c. nevertheless the Eye in seeing is alone for no part of the Body seeth but the Eye He shews that Faith alone is the Eye which sees the Object Jesus Christ and apprehends him and his Righteousness whose Righteousness only is the material cause of our Justification before God See the Assembly's Confession c. All whom God effectually calleth he freely justifieth not by infusing Righteousness into them but by pardoning their Sins and by accounting and accepting their Persons as righteous not for any thing wrought in them or done by them but for Christ's sake alone not by imputing Faith it self the act of believing nor any other Evangelical Obedience as their Righteousness but by imputing the Obedience and Satisfaction of Christ unto them they receiving and resting on him and his Righteousness by Faith which Faith they have not of themselves it is the Gift of God This agrees with that Doctrine Paul preached to the Romans and Galatians c. But from this Doctrine Mr. Clark and many more are departed what saith the Apostle If we or an Angel from Heaven preach any other Gospel unto you than what you have received let him be accursed Paul as Mr. Perkins notes saw the Galatians to be corrupted in the point of Justification false Teachers being got among them who preached Justification by Christ and by the works of the Law they did not exclude Christ's Merits but brought in the works of the Law with Christ in Justification before God as some now do the works of a new Law i.e. Gospel Law But let them tremble Where 's Paul's Doctrine for it is palpable this new Doctrine excludes not boasting or ground of boasting I argue thus viz. That Law doth not exclude boasting that commands works of Obedience as the Condition of Acceptance and Justification But this new Law these Men speak of commands works of Obedience as the Condition of our Acceptance and Justification Ergo It doth not exclude boasting But Mr. Clark intimates That works of the Law performed by our own Strength or without special assistance only admit of boasting Answ The Papists say that all their Works and inherent Righteousness are performed by God's Grace or special Assistance yet how do they boast Let the Creature perform good Works c. by what Assistance he will yet the Works are his Works and if such by which he is justified they admit of boasting Reader The Righteousness this Man contends for by which we are justified is not the Righteousness of one but the Righteousness of many i.e. every Man 's own Faith and sincere Obedience contrary to what Paul affirms Rom. 5.17 18 19. Christ did not saith Mr. Clark obey the Law in Man's stead Answ Then say I he hath not fulfilled all Righteousness for us nor answered all the demands of the Law nor doth God's Holy Nature and Justice require a perfect Righteousness to our Justification in his sight Was not perfect Righteousness part of that Debt we owed to God If so who pays the Debt for us the Penalty was but one part of our Debt Then also it seems the Law of perfect Righteousness doth not result from the Purity and Holiness of God but only from the Sovereignty of his Will not from the rectitude of his Nature Moreover why then did not God give this mild Law of Faith and sincere Obedience at first and so have saved himself of buying it so dear i.e. with the Price of the Blood of his own Son Christ's active Obedience he affirms is not imputed to us nay he says that imputing Christ's Righteousness to us is not a Scripture Expression 't is not found in any place of Scripture tho he says he denies not the thing Answ Righteousness was imputed to Abraham and he was the Father of all Elect Gentiles That Righteousness might be imputed to them also Now it must be Abraham's own Righteousness and so our own Righteousness that is imputed or else the Righteousness of Christ Again He may as well say Adam's active Disobedience was not imputed to us For as by one Man's Disobedience many were made Sinners so by the Obedience of one shall many be made righteous As Adam's Disobedience in his first Sin was imputed to all his Seed so is the Obedience of Christ imputed to all his or to all in him This Text I find he knows not how to answer see pag. 97 98. but boggles with it Obj. They object if the Righteousness of Christ be made ours we may be said to be the Saviours of the World as he was or to
Faith was true and saving not a dead Faith good Works being the Fruits of saving Faith If this was not so how could he say in vers 23. that The Scripture was fulfilled which saith Abraham believed God and it was imputed to him for Righteousness not his Act of Faith but the Object his Faith believed in or took hold of The Justification of a Sinner in a proper Sense is one thing and the Justification of a Believer as such a one is another thing How then can Mr. Clark say the Justification Paul speaks of and that which James speaks of is all one and the same thing This Man contends for a mild Law certainly the Moral Law remains a perpetual Rule of perfect Obedience let this Man shew us where and how he can prove that God in the Gospel only commands sincere imperfect Obedience to the Moral Law the Law surely loses no part of its sanction by the Gospel that is as holy just and good as ever Be ye perfect as your Father in Heaven is perfect We are still to love the Lord our God with all our Hearts with all our Souls and with all our Strength Our Faith Love Patience c. ought to be perfect the Law or Commands of the Gospel know no bounds or limits tho the Law is abrogated as a Covenant of Works yet not as a rule of perfect Obedience See what Reverend Mr. Cross says i.e. Either the Gospel Law or Law of Faith must require perfection in those Duties or some other Divine Law or else God would become an indulger of Sin by Law if it be by another Law viz. the Moral that requires perfect Obedience and this sincere only then these Laws differ but in degree not in Specie or Kind because both require the same Duties or Works and so this Gospel Law would be no distinct Law but only the measure of sincere Obedience would receive a new Use of its giving right c. which we own it has to wit to be an index or mark of our Justification tho we can't own that use of giving right c. a distinct Law they must hold or quit their Cause or this Foundation of it for the Text sets the Law of Faith down as an opposite Law to that of Works and that they hold then if it be a perfect Law requiring perfect Obedience there is no possibility of Justification in this Life but this is not all the difficulty for it 's the adding a load to a burden Is this Gospel to a Man that is not able to perform the least part of the Moral Law to tell him that God or the Mediator requires perfect Obedience to it for the future and another too Or is this Gospel to say you shall perish eternally and have the Fire of Hell seven times heated if you obey not the Gospel it's indeed a conditional Hell but it is more dreadful than the Fire of Hell and the condition is more impossible because we have less Power to shun this difficulty of two perfect Laws Mr. Bull owns no other perfect Law but the Gospel since Man fell but by shunning one difficulty he falls into as great 1 Then the Moral Law is abrogated besides the falseness of the Doctrine it self for it is impossible that should cease to be our duty to love God with all our Hearts and Souls What advantage brings in Christ's Death to abrogate one perfecting Law and establish another here is little Gospel A second difficulty i. e. we must either say Christ has purchased to us pardon for Sins against the Gospel Law or none at all but that one Sin of Adam's if the Moral Law be abrogated after the fall we never sinned against any Law but the Gospel for we were under no other Law according to him c. Thus Mr. Cross Is not much of our Obedience under the Gospel Obedience to the Moral Law Nay is not the Moral Law the Rule of all our Obedience to God in all positive Gospel-precepts Reader This mild Law of theirs they say requires sincere Obedience as the condition of Justification now there is no sincere Obedience without it be universal c. how then may this fill a poor Christian with terror and slavish Fear I do all I hope sincerely but I may not obey universally some Precept through ignorance I may lie short of I can't tell when my Obedience is full Also according to them I can be but partially justified in this Life and therefore I am partially condemned and thus the Creature hangs till Death between Heaven and Hell Ah poor England poor Church of God where are thy brave old Heroes that stood up to maintain the Truths of Christ What Apostacy is here from the Orthodox Faith what decay of doctrinal and practical Christianity what dark Clouds spread over our Heavens How are many fallen from the Faith But I must leave Mr. Clark to an abler Pen I design'd no more than to make a few Remarks to provoke some others to reply to the Argumentative part of his Book which I see no great difficulty to answer Now that the Lord would scatter this Cloud and all other dangerous Errors let it be all our Prayers both Day and Night Yet I doubt not but the present opposition against this Fundamental Point of Faith will cause the Truth in the end to shine more clear and bright which the Lord grant in his Infinite Mercy to the praise of his own Glory Amen FINIS The Scope of the Epistle to the Romans Rom. 8.3 Rom. 3. Parts of the Text opened The Terms explained Rom. 8.33 1 Cor. 11.32 Eph. 2.3 Rom. 6.14 Rom. 13. ult The 2d and 3d Verses of Rom. 8. explained Rom. 7.12 1 Cor. 1.30 Joh. 1.16 The Method proposed 1st Proposition by way of premise The Elect fell in the first Adam and were brought under Condemnation All Men by Nature under Guilt of Original Sin Rom. 3.12 Psal 51.5 Job 25.4 Caryl on ob chap. 25. p. 706. Rom. 5.14 All Men naturally under the Guilt of actual Sins Rom. 6.23 All Men by nature Children of Wrath. Eph. 2.3 Rom. 8.7 Psal 7.11 Psal 5.5 Rom. 3.19 Rom. 10.4 Gal. 4.4 Vers 5. Heb. 9.15 The Elect were once under the Curse of the Law Gal. 3.13 Gal. 2.10 Rom. 6.17 Heb. 9.19 20 21. Rom. 5.10 Heb. 10.14 Vers 11. 2 Pet. 1.4 Sinners that believe not condemned already Joh. 3.18 and 36. Rom. 5.1 Rom. 3.28 Gal. 2.16 Gal. 3.24 Act. 13.35 Joh. 3.36 Rom. 4.5 Faith no procuring cause or condition of Justification Rom. 3.22 Fox p. 1659. The later Helvetian Confession Zanchy on Phil. 3. Assemblies large Catechism Rom. 5.11 Before God or in his sight all things were from Eternity Rom. 4.17 An Elect Sinner not pronounced justified before he is in Christ Rom. 5.17 When we receive Christ we receive his Righteousness and not till then Justification makes a relative Change Luk. 15.32 1 Cor. 6.9 10 11. There was a federal Vnion of the Elect with Christ The Elect virtually justified when Christ rose from the dead Dr. Tho. Goodwin Christ set forth p. 76. Pag. 77. Ministers preach to Sinners as under Wrath and Condemnation Joh. 8.33 35 36. See his Book Christ alone exalted p. 235. The Holy Spirit in Convictions represents to Sinners their state is bad Eph. 2.3 Rom. 3.22 1 Cor. 6.11 1 Joh. 3.14 Called Scripture-Justification In his Introduction Pag. 1 5. Pag. 62. Pag. 85. * Phrasis hac side justificamur metonymica est aquipollet huic merito Christi side apprehensio justificamur Welleb Compend pag. 163. Can. viii Pag. 18. Joh. 8.36 Cant. 4.7 Chap. 5.2 Gal. 2.21 * But certainly all may see it is in effect the same with the Papists 2 Vol. on Gal. pag. 210. Gal. 1.8 Rom. 3.27 Pag. 43. Pag. 100. Pag. 96. Pag. 97. Rom. 4.11 Rom. 5.19 Dr. Owen on Justification p. 307. Pag. 105. Pag. 85. Pag. 46. Rom. 8.3 Mr. Sam. Clark Pastor of the Church at Bennetfink his Medulla Theologiae or the Marrow of Divinity Pag. 280. Rom. 8.3 Rom. 3.31 Rom. 11.6 Pag. 71. See Pool's Annot. Jam. 2.23 Mat. 5.48 Serm. on Rom. 4.5
A Medium betwixt two Extremes Wherein it is proved that the whole First Adam was condemned and the whole Second Adam justified Being a SERMON lately preached on Rom. 8.1 and now published to prevent the further Controversy in one main Point about Justification To which are added Reflections on some Passages in Mr. Clark's new Book called Scripture-Justification By BENJAMIN KEACH Rom. 5.18 Therefore as by the Offence of one Judgment came upon all Men to Condemnation even so by the Righteousness of one the free Gift came upon all Men to Justification of Life LONDON Printed for Andrew Bell at the Cross-keys and Bible in Cornhill 1698. To the Reader MY preaching upon this Subject was occasioned by what I met with from a gracious Person 's mouth who is a Member of the Church under my charge who seemed very uneasy in her Communion because in my preaching she said tho I hold forth the Doctrine of free Grace and exalt Christ yet do positively maintain that the Elect are under Wrath or in a lamentable state before calling or before they are united to Christ by the Holy Spirit or are in a State of Vnion with him which might I fear be occasioned through a mistake of that Doctrine some in this City of late so much insist on viz. Justification and Vnion with Christ before the Spirit the bond of that Vnion is received not that any of our Brethren I hope that preach that Doctrine do believe that the Elect are not under the Sentence of Condemnation and Wrath while they abide in the first Adam tho I fear they do not so carefully distinguish as they ought between our Fundamental and Virtual Justification in Christ as our Head and Representative and our actual or Personal Justification when we are united to him And finding ill use made of that Doctrine I have been perswaded to publish the first Sermon I preached upon this occasion not knowing how far this Notion might spread amongst weak and unwary hearers and having some hope this may be through the Blessing of God a prevention of it One thing I cannot but bewail i.e. that because we may differ perhaps in some respect from that Doctrine before mentioned that we must therefore be charged with Arminianism which Error we abhor and any other that tends to becloud or darken the Doctrine of free Justification by Christ alone without Works or inherent Righteousness None have reason to think that I favour in the least the Arminian or Baxterian Errors considering what I have lately published on the great Doctrine of Justification in two Sermons on Rom. 4.5 which Doctrine I have farther confirmed in those Sermons preached from the Text this is grounded upon viz. Rom. 8.1 this being only the first in which the Nature of our mystical Vnion with Christ is opened and the sweet Consolation that flows therefrom to all Believers largly applied Reader just as this Sermon was going into the Press I met with Mr. Samuel Clark's new Book intituled Scripture-Justification and have made short Remarks on some things he hath said In a time of common Invasion every Man should take to his Arms they need not wait for Orders as one notes for by this Man's Doctrine all is struck at Some think the difference between us and others who are unjustly called Antinomians consists more in Words or Terms than otherwise and I hope it is so however if I differ from them in any thing I cannot help it I have here asserted what I in my Heart do believe and I shall leave it to the Censure of all my Brethren and others with my earnest Prayers that Love Vnion Humility and Charity may be more prest after which certainly is much wanting among us and remain thine to serve thee in the Gospel according to that small measure of Light and Ability received Horsly-down in Freemans-lane 〈…〉 Benja Keach SERMON I. ROM viii 1. There is now therefore no Condemnation to them which are in Christ Jesus who walk not after the Flesh but after the Spirit IN this Epistle to the Romans the great Apostle of the Gentiles labours chiefly in the general to do two things First To establish the Saints to whom he wrote in the Doctrine of Justification by Christ alone Secondly To excite or stir up all justified Persons to Sanctification or Holiness of Life And That he might effectually do the first he in the three first Chapters discovers the dismal state of all both Jews and Gentiles as considered in the First Adam or the condition of every Soul by Nature and the weakness and insufficiency of the Law by reason of Man's Pravity to obtain Justification and eternal Life thereby insomuch that the Jews were in no better state than the Gentiles all being gone out of the way and the whole World become guilty before God But to revive their sinking Hopes he then displays the white Flag of Peace through the Free-Grace of God in Jesus Christ that tho the Law pronounces nothing but Wrath and Condemnation to every Soul of Man and also the remainders of Sin or the Law in our Members doth distress and sorely afflict Believers themselves yet he shews us that through Jesus Christ we have a blessed Victory over the Law of Sin and Death so that Sin cannot expose a true Believer to eternal Wrath and that the Law of God which holds all Unbelievers down under Guilt can no more oblige Believers to eternal Condemnation because Jesus Christ in our Nature hath answered all the Demands and born the Penalty thereof And from hence he brings in the Words of our Text as the profitable Use or Application of that Doctrine he had so well proved There is now therefore no Condemnation to them which are in Christ Jesus who walk not after the Flesh but after the Spirit In my Text you have three Parts I. A Comfortable and Consolatory Proposition There is now no Condemnation c. II. A Description of the state of the Persons to whom this Cordial of Comfort belongs viz. To them which are in Christ Jesus III. The Character of the Persons or their Qualification or Property as to the frame of their Hearts and the course of their Lives viz. They walk not after the Flesh but after the Spirit Or you may consider the former part of the Text thus viz. I. The Subjects spoken of Them which are in Christ Jesus II. The Predicate or Privilege asserted viz. There is now no Condemnation We will consider the Terms There is no Condemnation i.e. no Sentence of Divine Wrath no eternal Punishment 1. God pronounceth them justified and acquitted and so for ever free from Condemnation 2. The Justice of God acquits them and hath nothing to lay to their charge they being in Christ Jesus 3. The Condemnation of the Law cannot reach them it can't hurt them because they are delivered from the Curse thereof None else have any Power Who shall lay any thing to
they were Things before God or in his sight is one thing and things as to us or as actually existing is another thing That God sees the Elect justified and glorified too from Eternity is evident who are not actually and personally justified nor indeed can be said so to be until they personally exist and are in Jesus Christ 2. That to be federally fundamentally and representatively justified in Christ is one thing and to be actually and personally justified is another thing or Christ's receiving our Discharge and Justification as our Head and Surety for us is one thing and the application thereof or his giving of it out unto us pronouncing us just and righteous before God in our own Consciences and before all the World is another thing Thirdly We infer from hence that God magnifies his rich Grace exceedingly to us who believe or that the work of Grace is a glorious work upon the Soul and that Union with Christ is to be esteemed as one of the richest manifestations of his electing Love Fourthly That all Men out of Christ may see cause from hence to tremble considering what a woful State they are in and so strive to fly to Christ with speed Fifthly That such who are in Christ have cause to admire God's Free Grace and may from hence also take in a most precious and rich Cordial of the highest comfort and consolation for therefore Now there is no Condemnation to them who are in Christ Jesus But no more at this time A POSTSCRIPT containing a few Reflections upon some Passages in Mr. Clark's new Book intituled Scripture-Justification NEver more need for all that are Orthodox I mean who are established in the Doctrine of Justification by the imputed Righteousness of Jesus Christ or by his active and passive Obedience alone according to the Scripture and as maintained by most of the Antient Fathers and all our worthy modern Protestant Divines to cement together in Love and Union and to pass by small matters of Difference considering what a grand design is carrying on by the great Enemies of the true Christian Religion for Satan never appeared in his Instruments more bold and bare-fac'd against this grand Fundamental of Christianity viz. that of Justification since blessed Luther's days who as an Instrument with others gave him such a Wound than at this present time Reader we had need bestir our selves and rouse up with holy Zeal for God for all even the Foundation is struck at Just as this precedent Sermon was going to the Press a Book came to my hand wrote by Mr. Samuel Clark a Man of great Learning and who indeed writes without much seeming Gall or Invectives against any Man's Person the better to vent his Indignation against the Doctrine he opposes striving to revive and maintain the Baxterian Error with such Confidence and barefacedness that if some able Pen do not answer him it may do much harm to weak and unwary Christians He says He would not for a World lift up the least thought much less a Finger or Pen or utter the least word derogatory to the free Grace of God or cast the least blemish or speck upon the Reformation or the worthy Persons that were Instruments in it Yet he hath been so unhappy as to attempt the razing and utter overthrowing of that grand Truth in which mainly the Reformation consisted viz. Justification by the imputation of Christ's active and passive Obedience through the free Grace of God apprehended and received by Faith alone without any thing wrought in us or done by us not by imputing Faith or any other act of Evangelical Obedience but the imputing of Christ's Obedience and Satisfaction exclusively of all things else whatsoever And that Faith is only said to justify us objectively or in respect had to the Object Jesus Christ which it taketh hold of To this purpose Luther Melancthon Calvin Zanchy Perkins Ames Dr. Vsher Dr. Goodwin Dr. Owen Dr. Sibs Dr. Preston Norton Burroughs Caryl Pemble the Assembly and indeed all other Antient and Modern Writers generally But contrary to this Doctrine see what Mr. Clark saith viz. That justifying Faith is the same thing in substance with effectual Calling Repentance Regeneration Conversion Sanctification Renovation forming of Christ in the Soul c. Ans What now is the Purport of this Notion Why that Faith in a large or comprehensive Sense i.e. Faith with all other Graces and inherent Righteousness God hath instituted and ordained to be our justifying Righteousness in his Sight as in other places in his Book he doth assert without mincing the matter Again he saith I would avoid many figurative Expositions of Scripture which others are feign to make use of to salve their Phaenomena as when we are said to be justified by Faith they take it Metonymically for the Object of Faith viz. the Righteousness of Christ which what is it else than to make the Scripture a meer Nose of Wax and a Leaden Rule and to comply with our Fancies c. Answ This is much like Bellarmine in another case it appears the Doctrine we are established in and upon which we build all our Hopes of Justification and eternal Life is but a Fancy What is now become of that Doctrine Paul preached and all our worthy Reformers How will this make the Papists and Quakers smile 'T is not according to Mr. Clark the Object of Faith not Jesus Christ that Faith apprehends and we alone trust in but it is Faith that justifieth us comprehensively taken that is Faith Love Charity good Works and sincere Obedience that is imputed to us to our Justification in the sight of God And that so far as you act in Faith Holiness and in sincere Obedience so far you are justified For he positively affirms viz. That our Justification at present while we are in this World is but partial imperfect and incompleat These are his Words Answ Now if we are not perfectly justified it follows then we are not perfectly delivered from Condemnation nor acquitted from the Guilt of all Sin and so not in a state of Life nor made free indeed by the Son of God and then also Christ's Dove is not without spot nor undefiled in respect to Justification And then also it follows as the Papists say there is no assurance can be had or attained in this Life or until Death nor can we be said to be compleat in Christ besides it confounds Justification with Sanctification nay it makes them but one and the same thing Nay more that by a Law Righteousness is to be obtained and so Christ is dead in vain Now I profess I can see but little difference between this Doctrine and that of Bellarmin's and other Papists If famous Luther and other worthy Reformers had wrought no better Reformation than this the Church of God would have received but little benefit from them nor would the Papists have been so angry with them