this ground is it that he opposes Grace and Works so often as he does in the business of Justification By Grace are ye saved not of Works Eph. 2.8 9. Who hath saved us not according to our Works but his Grace 1 Tim. 1.9 If by Grace then not of Works Rom. 11.6 Not by Works of Righteousness which we have done but according to his Mercy he saved us and yet by Regeneration it follows and renewing of the Holy Ghost Tit. 3.5 How is that Are we saved by at least not without Works wrought in us by the Spirit or Grace which regenerates us and yet Not of Works Again Not of Works least any Man should boast Eph. 2.9 10. yet it follows we are created in Christ Jesus to good Works To answer this St. Austine and from him the Schools distinguish of Opera Naturae and Opera Gratiae We are not saved by Works or according to Works done in our own strength but by Works done by Grace But is this the Apostles meaning No I have shewn in my Book of Justification that one thing of three wherein Austine was out and hath mislead the Schools is this Notion of Grace By grace he understands still this inherent Grace or Operation of God's Spirit in us when Paul understands it of that without us his Favour or Condescention to us Not of Works but of Grace is all one as not of Desert but of Favour only Grace is Mercy without or contrary to Merit Now when the Papist receives the Solution mentioned the Protestant generally will have all Works though of the Regneerate to be but Rags and Christ's Righteousness alone to save us But they are both out for Paul's meaning is plainer than they think Not by Works of Righteousness we have done The Righteousness which the Jew hath done is living according to the Law of Moses The Righteousness which the Gentile hath done is his living according to the Law of Nature There is neither one or the other that fulfil that Righteousness as answers God's Law so as it should be able to save him and therefore it is of Grace or Mercy that any are saved By this Key must that hard Text also be opened Rom. 9.16 So then it is not of him that willeth nor of him that runneth but of God that sheweth Mercy What Is there any that find Mercy or are saved but they that will and run I answer No but there is none of them that will and run do will and run so as would save them if God did not pardon their Failings and accept their Endeavours through the Merits of Christ The meaning is that seeing no Man hath those Works the Law requires to Salvation it is of Grace or of Mercy that we are accepted to Life on Another Condition Well now it being of Grace that we are Saved or Justified in opposition to Work 's and it being necessary that those Works be understood of such as the Law requires to Justifie us that is Perfect Works Meritorious Works which if we had we might boast and expect the Reward as of Debt and the reason why we are not justified by Works being because we have them not it follows that there is another Righteousness which is to be had short of that the Law requires to Justification not Perfect not Meritorious not such as would make the Reward due of Justice but such as needs Grace for the Acceptance Therefore it is of Faith that it might be of Grace and that I say which we must have for God cannot account a Man Righteous which is to justifie him that is not Righteous his Judgment being according to Truth And what Righteousness then is that a Man must have and be found in but that we call our Evangelical Righteousness the Righteousness of Faith The Just shall live by Faith Note it he is Just Righteous that lives or is Justified But how Righteous Not according to the Law but the Gospel Hence is the Gospel called the Ministration of Righteousness Hence do we read of a Righteousness brought in by the Messiah slain in Daniel Hence that we are chosen in Christ to be Holy That he hath redeemed us from Iniquity That the end or one end of his Death or Redemption is to make us Righteous as our Divines still say but I never found any satisfactory account of it by them The matter in short is you may see it fuller in my mentioned Book p. 43. that by Christ's Death a Law of Grace is obtained upon which our Faith and Repentance is accepted to Life or imputed for Righteousness or we made Righteous so when by the Law of Works there is none no not one Righteous or ever could be in the World Hence is this Righteousness called the Righteousness of God as being ordained and accepted by him instead of that I even now called the Righteousness of Man And which is of God by Faith instead of such Works which the Law required to Justification Hence lastly are we said to be Justified by Faith the most single and plain reason whereof is because that Faith to a true Believer is imputed for Righteousness Rom. 4.22 23 24. And Faith is said to be imputed to him for Righteousness because God does account such a one Righteous and deals with him as such in freeing him from Punishment and accepting him to Salvation through the Death and Obedience of our Redeemer Justification in which sense also he calls him the God of his Righteousness When as for any acceptance of him through the Righteousness of the Messiah to come a Righteousness without him made his by Faith which could abide God's district Justice I find not the Footstep of one such Thought To rely therefore I will say on Christ's Righteousness as ours without regard to any thing within or without regard to the Condition is self-deceiving But to rely on God's Mercy and on Christ's Merits for acceptance of what we do and Pardon for the Failings is Substantial Religion and of Justification by Faith in Christ's Blood a good Exposition I have now something more to be farther pondered on this Point The chief is That what I have said before about the Commutation of Persons that it is to be held in regard to the Impetration not Application of our Redemption I would offer over again likewise in regard to the Imputation of Christ's Righteousness I have said and say it over that this Phrase is not found in Scripture but I will acknowledge the thing in the true sense of it which is this Christ Jesus did really obey the Law and suffer its Penalty for us which is in our place or stead To do a thing now in my stead is for another to do it so as to save me the doing it Christ's Suffering and Obeying was to save us that Suffering and Obeying No says Mr. W. somewhere Christ suffered indeed in our stead that we might not suffer but not obeyed that we might not obey But if Christ
Promise Threat and Obligation of the Law of Works continue under the Gospel is an Error He concludes that the Law of Works not Moral Law is abrogated This Resolution I rest not upon as something dark and too short for how solidly soever he speaks of the Obligation of the Law yet hath he not fully ventured to determined this Point and I think could not do it Mr. Baxter therefore tying not himself to Mr. Lawson's Opinion is singular in his own The Precept and Threat says he is of force but the Promise only ceases This is his brief State of the Point and I think it rare so piercing a Man should take up with it Did Christ come from Heaven to Earth to take on him our Nature and put himself under the Law to obey it perfectly and suffer the Penalty to Redeem us from it and is this all that Freedom that Deliverance we have from it that the Promisaâ—y part ceases What benefit is there in that We are uncapable to perform the Condition of the Law says he and therefore the Promise is void But neither what this excellent Man says here is true nor is it the thing which should be said It is not the Thing because the delivery of us from the Law which the Scripture speaks of as the Purchase of Christ is the freeing us from the Curse and Condemnation of it To be freed from the Promise what good I say is that And it is not true because the Lord Jesus a Man as we are did perform the Condition and made the Reward thereby due to him of Debt or Merit and accordingly entred into Glory The Man Christ I said in my Sheet was obliged to an Obedience of the Moral Law that he might himself have Right Jure merito foederis operum to Life Eternal Well then you may say if I be not lead by neither of these what is Mr. Humfrey's own Opinion and State of the Point I answer The second Opinion which Mr. Baxter counts Extream and Mr. Lawson says is an Error I take to be Truth and own that the Law of Nature or Works continues wholly as to us in his Precepts Promise and Threat unabolished Do we make void the Law through Faith God forbid yea we establish it I have formerly thus explained and stated my Judgment The Moral Law or Law of Nature is a Law or Rule of Life or Manners in it self consider'd I count without the Sanction that is not Essential to it The Duty which it requires arising from God's Nature and Ours in owing to God if he had made no Promise of Reward or threatned no Punishment for the breach of it and God's putting a Sanction to it makes that Law a Covenant Now in a Covenant there are two Parties and consequently there is Our part and God's part in this Covenant On our part the Law I count being the Law and Covenant of Nature does and must continue unchangeable and Man not performing perfect Obedience and yet bound to it is in the Hand of his Judge otherwise above the Law to dispose of him as he pleases Every Sin against it though the least maketh Punishment due the Threat declares and constitutes a Debitam though not Eventum that is deserves it But as to God's part the Case is alter'd Here is the business We are by this Law or Covenant through our Sin we and all the World in God's hand lyable to Wrath and Condemnation and God as Rector and Judge does stand engaged to deal with us according to it But upon a voluntary and allowed Mediation of his Son and Satisfaction given in our behalf which he might accept to the fulfilling the Ends of the Law better than by Man's Punishment he executes not the Law upon him There are two Reasons upon which when they meet a Law-giver who is also Rector may forbear the Punishing a Criminal One is when the Case is Pittiable and requires Commiseration And the other when his Justice and Honour can be saved also though he spare the Person Such is the Case here If God deal with Man according to this Law all Mankind must Perish which is Pittiable indeed and it pleased him in his Wisdom to find out and in his Goodness to permit and appoint that the Lord Jesus his Son should interpose so as by fulfilling the Law exactly for himself and bearing the Punishment of it also in our stead here is no Dishonour can be cast on himself or Law by his dealing otherwise on his part with us than the Covenant required By this means did God pay its due Respect to his Law seeing as he required at first the Performance of it as the Condition of Life and when it was broke would have his Son re-honour it and fulfil it so he would not pardon the Sinner in point of Justice without an Hostage and Satisfaction But now amends being made him amply by such a Mediator he dispenses with the Penalty as to us so that the Law here becomes not Abrogated nor Ceased but properly Relaxed It is not an Abrogation or Cessation or an Interpretation an 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 but whatever the Skilful Mr. Lawson says otherwise is a Relaxation or Dispensation so as we shall not be condemned by it The separating between God's part and our part in this Covenant never came into Mr. Lawson's Mind to see this We are not on our part I say freed from the Law that we should no longer obey it or not be liable to Punishment but we are delivered from it by our Redeemer so as to obtain the Mercy that God will not deal with us on his part according to it How then will you say does or will he deal with us I answer by another Law which by the Merit of that Satisfaction he also purchased a Remedying Law the Law of Grace the Covenant of Forgiveness the Law of Faith in opposition to the Law of Works The Lord Jesus hath redeeemed us his Poor Lost Creatures from the Sentence of the Law by which every Mortal else must have perished but he takes the Redeemed into his hands and both the Remedying Law and Law of Nature into his Law the Law of Christ so that they shall not be Lawless for all that They have the Law still as in the Redeemer's hands to live by as well as they can and as far as Humane Frailty will permit but they shall be dealt with in regard to Acceptation according to the Grace of the Gospel The Law then remains in the Precept and Threat as a Rule to Live by but not as the Rule we shall be Judged by a Rule of Life but not of Judgment It is by the Law of Liberty we shall be Judged says St. James and St. Paul expresly According to my Gospel Blessed be God for this Truth What Mr. W. and Mr. Lobb will say of this Determination I may know if they write again but I am not sollicitous about that I am methinks
sorry for Mr. Williams that he printed his Sheet when mine alone as a Third Person to let the World know how little they had against him how curious the Difference what need of bearing with one another had been enough because he must be forced to agree with me when he should have differ'd and is put upon the Defence of a Denial of that which I take to have been advantageous and the credit of his Books to have owned It is objected against him that he holds the Penal Sanction of the Law of Works to be changed What if he had owned this for his Opinion and said it is no Error but stood to it As Mr. Baxter hath his and I my State of the Point Mr. W. might have his and we never fall out Suppose then the Point stated only with two Distinctions 1. As to the Law between the Law it self and its Sanction 2. As to the Subjects of this Law between the Believer and Unbeliever Let him then say the Law it self is unchangeable but its Sanction is changed and that change to be understood as to Believers for he every where says the Unbeliever is under Condemnation And let me see who he is will be his Opponent I say let me see whether any of our Brethren out of whose Books Mr. Lobb does bring some opposite Sayings to Mr. W. and thereby shifts himself off from being Accuser or Opponent so as it is not he but they are engaged to make them good that will undertake to Oppose and Mr. W. be Respondent I suppose the Question to be Whether the Sanction of the Law be changed and held affirmatively being but thus stated This I take to be the very ordinarily preached Doctrine by our most Judicious Divines for to be more exact in Preaching may but amuse and hurt the People and Mr. Lobb does know and I think Mr. W. too that trite Determination I mentioned in my Letter to him which is co-incident with what is here said The Law is to be considered qua Foedas and qua Regula Qua Regula it binds us to perfect Obedience Qua Foedus it binds us to it as the Condition of Life Qua Regula then it remains Obligatory Qua Foedus it does not Christ hath freed us from it Let us suppose this to be Mr. W's Opinion and then bring Mr. Lobb's Objection There is a Change of the Penal Sanction of the Law of Works Very well he grants it The Gospel doth not denounce Death for the same Sins and every Sin as the Law doth Very true the one follows undeniably from the other Let us bring then Mr. W's Explanation Comment or Confirmation of this Opinion Though nothing be abated in the Rule of Sin and Duty yet Blessings are promised to lower degrees of Duty and a continuance in a State of Death with a bar to the Blessing are not threatned against every degree of Sin as the Covenant of Works did Can any doubt this to be the Grace of the Gospel-Promise Doth it promise Life to all Men however Vile and Impenitent they be or Doth it threaten Damnation or a continuance of it on any True Penitent Believing Godly Man because he is imperfect This change of the Sanction supposeth the Death of Christ and his honouring the Law by his perfect Obedience wherein God hath provided for his own Glory while he promises Life by Forgiveness to imperfect Man and yet insists on some degree of Obedience to which of his Grace he enableth us What can be spoken more appositely more judiciously more roundly to the purpose and more sufficiently supposing Mr. W. had but held and stood to this Opinion It is all exactly true according to the Point thus stated I cannot blame Mr. Lobb though I had a mind to do it to think that this was indeed Mr. W's Opinion because his Discourse loses its current upon a contrary Supposition Mr. Lobb shews himself a more piercing Man than I thought upon that account I will turn therefore to another place Gospel Truth p. 115. Dr. Crisp oft tells us that the Sanction of the Law of Works is removed and the Curse gone as to the Elect This is true if he mean that sinless Obedience is not now the way of Life and all bellow it shall not bind Death upon us so as to hinder our Relief by the Gospel Here Mr. Lobb shews me in a Letter that Mr. W. grants expresly that the Sanction of the Law is removed It is true that is he confesses it Very good all consonant to himself It is true in this meaning which he sets forth just in the Sense I say the Point is stated By the way let Mr. Lobb note that when Mr. W. says It is true in 〈◊〉 meaning it implies that if it be meant otherwise It is 〈◊〉 true which answers the Quotation By this it appears how well throughly well all would have been if he had maintained not denied the Charge of his Brethren Hear therefore a little more amply Mr. George Lawson with whom neither Mr. W. Mr. Lobb nor I are to be compared for a Conclusion There is one great Change in respect to the Law Perfect Obedience to it was first made the Condition of Life but afterwards that Promise of Life upon those strict Terms and that severe Commination of Death upon Sin were abolished and Faith was made the only Condition of Life So that it may be truly said that the Law of Works is abrogated but not the Moral Law considered by it self I would have therefore Mr. W. methinks here ask the Brethren to give him his hand in again or if he thinks good he may take it If not let us come to the Question waved hitherto Is a Change of the Penal Sanction of the Moral Law the same as The Gospel hath another Sanction to the Preceptive part of the Law For answering which Question by the Sanction of the Law I understand the Penalty under which the Duty is required and so does Mr. Lobb because when Mr. W. says Sanction he cites Penal Sanction supposing as here spoken nothing else by it but the Penalty Now then when Mr. W. says The Gospel hath another Sanction or a Change of the Sanction to the Preceptive part of the Law Mr. Lobb accounts he must be understood to mean That the Precepts of the Law being taken into the Gospel are not required under that Penalty as they were in the Covenant of Works and thereupon does collect this as his Error The Collection is Rational but Mr. W. denies this to be his meaning Every Sin out of doubt does deserve Death even in the Believer and therefore the perfect Duty of the Law is required by the Gospel under the same Penalty though that Penalty is remitted being not remediless as under the Law it was upon the other Terms of it Christ's Law comprehends I have said the Law of Nature and the Remedying Law both When the Law of Nature therefore remaineth it must
W's Opinion was as he notifies it to be Mr. W. that knows what his own mind was better than any complains that he mistakes and wrongs him On one side I accounted here is Confidence but on the other Knowledge I had passed therefore this Judgment that Mr. Lobb was to be Excused but Mr. Acquitted There is Obscurity not Error I had thought in the words of Mr. W. there is Mistake not Malice in the Collection of Mr. Lobb But now I cannot I must confess in Point of Conscience let this go I cannot say there is Mistake herein but rather Sagacity in Mr. Lobb and I cannot say there is no Error of Mr. W. herein but rather that he was one then not come to any Consistency about the Point and that it is best for him to be in Suspense still seeing that which we three suppose to be the Error some others more weighty than we take to be Truth If the Moral Law said such a one should be in force as it was to Adam no Man upon one Act of Disobedience could be saved Therefore that manner of strict Obligation ceaseth unto sinful Man for ever This being so that what Mr. W's Opinion was at his first Writing I am not sure insomuch as I can bring in no Billa vera but an Ignoramus in my last Verdict to the Brethren that are some time to meet about it And that it is like his Opinion was not then so digested as that himself can tell it Nay that it is no matter or very little matter whether his Opinion was so or otherwise seeing the Opinion Pro or Con may be good enough at least inoffensive either of them if but stated well Nay yet that it may be peradventure in other Differences between our Brethren no otherwise than so as it is in this I must come to that Conclusion at last which I came to long since and stand to it that it is not upon a Union in Opinion or upon certain Theses drawn up into such a Latitude of Words as all may subscribe but upon a Union in forbearing and bearing with one another in all things but what is of necessity to Salvation that our Concord must be re-established PART II. I Have done here with the Arbitration which I count Mr. W. and Mr. Lobb appointed me that is as to this particular matter and as for any other Points between them they are not my Province Only so far as the Middle Doctrine of Justification which I maintain is concerned I cannot but take notice how one word and that 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 used but once in one place is the ground almost of all their Dissention It is the word Surety Heb. 7.22 This word hath been so strained or rather grosly taken not only by the Antinomian but our Divines ordinarily as if Christ were such a Surety for us in the Covenant of Works as bound with us in the same Bond so coarse is their Speech insomuch as when he performed the Duty and suffered the Penalty in our behalf they reckon it done in our Persons so that God looks on the Believer in Law sense as having perfectly obeyed and suffered in his Surety and consequently that he receiving this Righteousness or making it his by Faith does stand justified in that Righteousness of Christ by the Law of Works If Mr. Lobb or any Brother it is all alike who they be hath used words to this Sense they must be rectified Mr. W. is not to come to them but they to Mr. W. They do heinously err says Mr. Baxter and subvert the Gospel who says that Christ's Righteousness is so imputed to us as that God reputeth Christ to have been perfectly Holy and suffered though not in our Natural yet in the Legal or Civil Person of the Sinner or Believer as their strict and proper Representer and so to have our selves fulfilled all Righteousness in him or by him and thereby be Justified There are more words by way of Aggravation which I fill up with and thereby be Justified because they tend only to shew what the allowing so much at the beginning does draw after it This Doctrine I have said is coarse I add and grounded on a Mistake which I have inculcated in my Book of Justification Divines indeed ordinarily Papists and Protestants supposing that it is by the Law the Law of Works that we shall be Judged do fall out and must fall out one against and one with another But let them reflect and understand aright that it is not the Law of Works but the Law of Grace or Law of Faith not the Law but the Gospel Rom. 1.16 James 2.12 before noted is and shall be the Rule of Judgment when the Law is indeed the Rule of Living they must end the Quarrel between most of them Upon this * Hence Contarenus though a Papist and a Cardinal who defines also Justificari to be justum fieri propterea justum haberi hath yet these words Ego prorsus existimo piè Christianè dici quod debeamus niti justitia Christi nobis donata non autem gratia nobis inhaerente Haec enim justitia nostra est inchoata imperfecta quae tueri nos non potest quin in multis offendamus Idcirco in conspectu Dei non possumus ob hanc justitiam nostram haberi justi boni Sed justitia Christi nobis donata est perfecta quae omnino placet oculis Dei. Haec ergo sola certa stabili nitendum est ob eam solam credere nos justificari coram Deo id est justos haberi dici justos Cont. de Justificatione account when the Protestant judges that we must have a Righteousness that answers the Law as his or else he cannot at all be justified he does make Christ such a Surety and devise such a Commutation of Persons as suits to that Conception But he that is clear as to the Rule by which we shall be judged will be contented with such a Suretiship and Commutation only as the Scripture I was upon saying as Mr. W. does allow him For Christ's Suretiship in the first place I do not fancy so much to be made of it even as Mr. W. does That he was a Surety on God's part and then on our part and I know not what The true and faithful God I hope has no need of any Surety on his part to make His good I count that but idle he says to excuse it And if Christ was a strict proper in humane sense proper Surety of the new Covenant on our part to make Ours good then must all of us be saved because the Gospel Covenant I hold is Universal and not made with the Elect only That which I conceive then as to Christ's Suretiship is that he was to do and did all that was to be done for Satisfaction to God in our behalf for procuring the Gospel-Covenant for the lost World This I apprehend to be the main
obeyed not that we might not obey he obeyed not in our stead How is it then Why Christ obeyed the Law as the perfect Obedience thereof required was the Condition of Life and by his obeying it thus he hath freed us from being under that Condition that is from so obeying it as by his Suffering we are freed from enduring the Curse Not by a Cessation of the Duty or Sanction Premiant or Penal of the Law of Works but by the Accession of the Law of Grace because the Sanction of that Law is remedied by this both being in Christ's hands neither abrogating the other To be freed from the Obligation of perfect Obedience as the Condition of Life does import or is all one as or with to be freed from the Commination of Death upon the least failing thereof so that the Promisory part of that Law and Comminatory part are alike concerned and must be understood both alike to be of force or cease as before shewn By Christ's Sufferings we are not freed from all Sufferings or Punishment for Sin but from suffering the Curse in that Punishment So by his Obedience we are not freed from endeavouring and doing what we can to become perfect but we are freed from the Obligation of the Performance as necessary to Salvation This comes in by the way but for the Imputation now of Christ's Righteousness Christ suffered and obeyed for us I say which must be understood aright Not that God looks on us as if we our selves had obeyed or suffered either in his Person or he to have done it strictly in ours but that he obeyed and suffered loco nostro to free us from so Obeying and Suffering as he himself did which is the making his Death and Obedience ours only as to this Benefit Thus much being right and the Righteousness of Christ consisting in this Obedience and suffering of this in our room now what at last is the Imputation of it Why certainly the Imputation of Christ's Righteousness is and must be nothing else but God's accounting the matter to be thus as it is Here is the Point That what Christ hath done is lookt upon is accepted as done in our behalf or the granting it to be so that upon this Obeying and Suffering of his in our place as the Meritorious Cause we shall be freed from the same Obedience and Suffering our selves as the Effect of it This is the only Fundamental Truth in the Phrase and this Imputation then of Christ's Righteousness which Man hath so phrased going into this Grant on God's part or obtaining the Grant on Christ's part which precedes the Application it cannot go into the Application it self that follows after upon the Performance of the Gospel-terms so as to make Christ's Righteousness ours any otherwise than in this Benefit only Besides this the fancying such Acts in God as the imputing Christ's Righteousness to every single Person upon his Believing any otherwise than by that one Act of Grace now promulgated in the Gospel is not becoming the Divine Being There is there can be no new Acts in God He is Actus purus his Will one I must not grow too Subtle here only I must say there is his Will and the Effects of his Will and in those Effects there is an Order In that Order the Righteousness of Christ precedes the Impetration of all the Benefits we have by him as the Meritorious Cause of them and the Impetration precedes the Application and the Imputation of Christ's Righteousness going to the Impetration the Application cannot but be of the Effects thereof Not of this Righteousness I say it self in se but of the Benefits themselves we have by it To be more short That Commutation of Persons and Imputation of Christ's Righteousness which come both in earnest to this one same thing Mans Benefit for Christ's Satisfaction how soever the Thoughts thereof have amused so many good Men when you have throughly considered them and made as much of them as ever you can it must all of it every drop of it you can make go into that Act of Grace Salvation upon Gospel-Conditions which is already procured and passed Unto the Impetration then of our Redemption Christ's Righteousness was indeed imputed in it self In the Application it can be imputed only in the Effects I know there are some Texts very high Texts about this matter in Scripture such as these He hath made him Sin for us that we may be made the Righteousness of God in him By the Obedience of one many shall be made Righteous Christ is the end of the Law to the Believer What is the meaning of such Texts The meaning really I take to be but the same I have now opened They all come to this That Christ by his Satisfaction and Obedience hath procured us such a Freedom from the Law that Faith without Works that is Legal Works may be imputed to us for Righteousness which is all one as that we may become Righteous upon performing only the Terms of the Gospel Christ is the end of the Law How I answer If I say by putting an end to it I speak what is plainest This is to give 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 it s own proper Interpretation But how hath Christ done that He hath done it by satisfying and obeying it I have said in our stead He hath by the Merit of his Obedience procured our Deliverance from the Obligation to perfect Obedience as the Condition of Life This is such an end of the Law as will hold and can never be contradicted I will confirm it with the words following Christ is the end of the Law for Righteousness to him that believeth There are two Questions here will go to the heart of this Text What is the end of the Law and Why there is an end of it For the What we see The end of the Law is this Fredom as I say from the Condition mentioned For the Why the Text says it is for Righteousness to him that believeth Now what is the meaning of these words It is that by believing we make Christ's Righteousness ours and thereby are Justified No it is that by believing true believing which is also obeying the Gospel we may be made as one of the Texts has it Righteous and being so be accounted so of God and dealt with as so not Legally but Evangelically so and accepted in that Righteousness of God See my Book of Justif p. 57 58. opposed to the Righteousness of Works unto Eternal Life This St. John teaches He that doeth Righteousness is Righteous and Christ's own mouth hath confirmed And the Righteous to Life Everlasting As for that Text which is like still to be laid in our way the first of those that in the words I have quoted to wit 2 Cor. 5.21 I will accumulate thus much that In Christ's taking on him our Sins to become a Sacrifice for them and fulfilling the Law to procure those new terms in performance whereof
the ends of it by a perfect obeying of it and suffering for Man's Sin against it and thereby Merit to all Mankind it being done in their behalf a Right to Pardon and Salvation or to Impunity and Life which yet is to be given them upon such Terms as should please him and the Redeemer for so long as it was not the Persons themselves that obeyed and suffered but another in their stead and that by way of Satisfaction not strict Payment the Benefit of that Obedience and Suffering might be disposed at their Will Now this Right to Impunity and Life obtained is given or granted in an Act of Grace declared in the Gospel which runs thus that whosoever he be that Believes Repents and lives sincerely according to it shall be pardoned and saved Even as in an Act of Pardon by Parliament a Man hath committed Treason or the like the Treason is still by the Law Death but upon such an Act passing those Persons that are guilty are pardoned if qualified according to the Act In like manner that Man who performs this Gospel-Condition hath this Right by vertue of this Act Law or Covenant of Grace Grant Deed of Gift Will of Christ Testament or Gospel The Righteousness of Christ is the Meritorious Cause of it and this Act of Grace the Instrument of Donation or Law-title Here then we see is a Righteousness Evangelical that we have and must have and here is a Right to Impunity and Life which you may if you will call a Righteousness too that we have also But the Righteousness of Christ we have here only in the Effect As in the common instance I have a Friend made Slave in Algiers I give a 100 l. for his Ransom he never has nor sees the 100 l. but the Money is his in the Liberty he possesseth Note When the former sort of Divines mentioned say that by the Imputation of Christ's Death to us we become recti in Curia and there must be then a Righteousness of his Life imputed farther to entitle us to Heaven they understand still that it is by the Law of Works that we are to be tried and judged But let all understand aright as before that it is by the Law of Grace and supposing then we were thereby recti in curia that Righteousness required farther unto this Title must be the Righteousness of that Law we are judged by to wit our Evangelical Righteousness only which is accepted unto Life or made the Condition instead of that of the Law upon the account of this Righteousness of Christ Jesus We must distinguish here to avoid Prejudice and least the tender be offended There is the Duty and the Condition of this Law the Law of Grace the Law of Christ or the Gospel by which we are to be judged God hath constituted the Duty the Condition the Reward the Penalty of it There are few of our Ministers and much less of our People are sensible of the Advantage this Doctrine brings us and the Soundness of it No Man we must know does perform the Duty but every Man must perform the Condition or he cannot be saved This Condition as obtained for the World is the grand Benefit of Christ's Purchase or main Fruit of his Death and is accepted when performed only through him It is not for my Works or Merits sayest thou that my Person is accepted but for Christ's Righteousness and in this alone is my Comfort And I say it is not for the Works sake or Merit of any thing or all we do but for Christ's sake that the Condition is accepted and it is in this is my Comfort In this it is that we have or can have any grounded Sustentation To say thou art Justified by Christ's Righteousness when yet thou must acknowledge his Righteousness is none of thine unless thou hast performed the Condition What empty Comfort is that But to say that through Christ's Merits and Righteousness this it self that I do is the Condition here is Comfort indeed That what we are enabled by his Grace I say to do how little soever if sincerely done if it be but the Grain of Mustard-seed in a hungring and thirsting after Righteousness shall be accepted unto Life that is be that Condition upon account of what Christ hath done for us this I say is solid Consolation Thou saist when I look on my Works my Heart sinks I am not sure I am Sincere but in the Righteousness of Christ I am safe I say this is certain If thou art not Sincere thou art not Safe And when I doubt whether I am or not I can have no Support but in this that I hope I am I trust I am and that it is upon the Satisfaction and Merit of Christ that Faith that Hope does depend For that there is any Condition at all that the Condition is such that what I do shall be accepted as the Condition performed it must all be put upon the account of Christ's Performance or Merit in our behalf and his Merit is sufficient however imperfect be our Duty for its Acceptance with God When then upon a Sense of my Deficiency instead of sinking I grow bolder in my reliance on Christ's Merits and God's Mercy I do not presume on my self but I magnifie his Grace and the higher I raise my Faith thereupon provided I live not willingly in any Conscience-wasting Sin the more Glory am I humbly perswaded do I give my gracious Saviour and good God Thou Man hast the Comfort to apply to thy self Christ's Merits if thou hast performed the Condition But I have the Comfort to apply Christ's Merits to the Condition which makes his Yoke easie and burden light as to the Performance and my very Desires and weakest Endeavours to find Acceptance When I read such Prayers of David that God would not enter into Judgment with him that he would not be extream to mark what he had done amiss for then he could not abide it and that yet he will have God to search him and try his Reins and Heart and the like I cannot but be convinced that in the Acceptance of such an imperfect Righteousness as he accounted his was through God's meer gracious Condescention Mercy and Forgiveness to him he placed his * That there is a Righteousness set forth in the Gospel as another Righteousness than that of the Law by which we are to be justified is signally affirmed Rom. 1.17 Rom. 3.21 23. Now is the Righteousness of God revealed The doing what the Law requires and nothing less is Righteousness the Righteousness of Man I will call it If any one did that it would and must justifie him The Doers of the Law before God are justified Rom. 2.13 The Apostle still so accounts which we must know and tells us thereupon that no Man Jew or Gentile does it but that all fall short thereof in his three first Chapters to the Romans and consequently by their Works cannot be justified Upon