of them that hath not at all times held and spoken the same things with Mr. Pemble And so pronounceth the faith of Christ to have been no where sound but within the confines of Rome and that the Protestant Churches are all hereticall and apostates have rejected the faith of Christ and sought righteousnesse and salvation by a Creed of their owne making 4 Neverthelesse his sincerity in the very next words after his such stout pleading for the Papists fals foul with them for making the Scripture a nose of wax to delude the simple with an opinion that he hath no confederacy with them Yet 5 Holds them fast by the hand telling us that he will joyn with them and follow James in their sense and interpretation to seek justification by works and not by faith only But let us come to the text it self and see whether St. James will be brought to dance after St. Bellarmine and Mr. Baxter with all their piping and charming and in this the sincerity of these two great champions in the interpreting of this Scripture will appear First for the scope of the Words who can better expresse it then the Author This himself declares to be the subversion of the false confidences of shadie beleevers who being destitute of true faith gloried in the meer shadow and profession of it as if it should justifie and save them though it never wrought to their Sanctification but left them to every good work reprobate Against this pernicious delusion he bends the whole drift of his dispute and proveth such a faith to be vain dead devillish and on the contrary that the faith which justifyeth is lively and operative in good works This will be manifested in examining the severall passages of the dispute specially to him that will take the labour of reading but some of the many hundreds of our Divines that have answered the Arguments of the Papists hence deduced either in their Commentaries upon this Epistle or in handling this Controversie against them And herein some of the learned among the Papists are more plyant to obey and lesse stubborn to resist the truth then Mr. Baxter The scope of the Apostle saith Cajetan is to shew quod non fide sterili sed foecunda justificâ—mur i. e. that we are justifyed not by a barren but fruitfull faith Thus do we finde James himself staâ—ing the question ver 14. What doth it profit though a man say he hath faith and hath not works shall his faith save him It is against the saying and false professing of faith that hath no force or life to bring forth good works and not against faith indâ—ed which worketh by love that the Apostle here argueth denying to it any efficacy to Justification this is the thing which we shall finde him prosecuting throughout his whole disputation and on the contrary part affirming faith which is living and active to good works to be also alive and effectuall to justifie This will more properly offer it self to be made out in the next place Let us then come to examine Mr. Baxters dispute from the authority of James Pag. 293. Br. In opening this I shall first shew the clearness of that in Iames for the point in question c. This he goeth about to doe by dashing in peeces all whatsoever hath been sayd by all or any of the Protestant Churches or Writers against the Papists in expounding this Text thus B. The ordinary expositions of St. James are these two 1. That he speaks of Justification before men and not before God 2. That he speaks of works as justifying our Faith and not as justifying our persons or as Mr. Pembles phrase is The Apostle when he saith works justifie must bee understood by a Metonymy that a working faith justifieth That the former exposition is false may appear thus This is his shewing the clearnesse of that in St. James viz. to anathematize all that any of the faithfull servants and Martyrs of the Lord Jesus within the Protestant Churches have spoken in the Exposition therof that it may bee embraced by all after the Catholick that is Romish interpretation Two things wee except against in this his clarifying passage 1. That being very good both at confounding and dividing as hee sees either to make for his turn hee doth heer by dividing seek to pervert as erewhile by confounding we found him to obscure the truth Why doth he make two opinions two expositions heer of that which is but one Hath he learned of Maâ—chiavel so to deal in spiritualls as hee prescribes in Politicks Divide impera Why els should hee set at division those that are united Or make them to fight one against another who speak the same things Or set in opposition Iohn against Calvin and Calvin against Iohn Or David against Pareus and Pareus against David And so other thousands when every of these gives both these expositions which he mentioneth in one Possibly as to some particulars in this question he may meet with some particular Writer urging the one onely but he knowes that most and those not the meanest make use of both as shal be shewed 2. Wee except against him that in alleadging theâ—e expositions he doth subtlely hide the grounds upon which the Protestants doe fix these their expositions And thus he exposeth them to the vulgar at least as groundless dreams shifting evasions wherof no reason can be given on our part That all the reason lieth on the Papists part with whom therfore he hath joyned Is this Christian or Jesâ—iticall dealing Would it not bee expected from him that professeth himselfe a Protestant and zealous Presbyterâ—â—n when â—e divides himselfe utterly from them all them of whose side hee professeth himselfe to be at least to set down their opinions and grounds thereof and to confute those grounds and not as hee doth deny and fight against the conclusion without speaking a word to the premisses What he therefore fraudulently omits I shall heer supply rendring the expositions as our Divines give it and the grounds of it and not as Mr. Baxter corrupts it We have found him acknowledging that if it be but some one phrase dissonant from the ordinary language of Scripture that one must bee reduced to the rest and not all the rest to that one pa. 297. So stands the case heer The ordinary language yea drift of the New Testament is to hold forth Justification by faith without works as wee have seen before and every one that will but consideratively reade as other the Evangelists so chiefly the Gospell written by Iohn the Apostle the Acts of the Apostles the Epistles to the Romans to the Galatians to the Ephesians Philippians Colossians and Hebrews especially and above the rest and withall from the rest it must needs appeare This one passage in one Epistle hath a sound of differing but a souÌ„d Must al be reduced to this or this to all According to the rule therefore allowed by Mr. Baxter
had said it is such a justification as justification dependeth on or such a salvation as salvation dependeth on The Apostle there speaks of a dead and barren Faith of a profession not a being of Faith and by an interrogation bearing the force of a strong Negation by saying Can Faith or the saying that he hath Faith save him he means and saith it cannot save him and that is the same with him as if he had said it cannot justifie him Here wee have indeed an idle dreame of Faith that cannot save But a Iustification that cannot justifie or cannot save or can justifie and not save is as far from James as neare to Mr. Baxter B. 2. It is such as followeth only a saving faith But the world may as well justifie us when we have no Faith at all That the justification of the New Covenant in which God evidenceth by faith to us that we are justified in Christ or the justification which consisteth in the evidencing by works to men the truth both of our Faith and Gospel Justification so far that in charity they are to regard us as truly beleeving and truly justified do both follow either saving faith or that which in charity to them that profess it men are to account a saving faith none denieth But it will not hence follow that works justifie us at Gods Judgement seat because they follow faith that declareth and evidenceth us to our selves to be so justified He comes with a new supply pa. 296. B. Once more 1. Was Abrahaem justified before men for a secret Action 2. Or such an Action as the killing of his only Son would have been 1. Had the Action been kept secret from men it could not have justified him before God or men Not before God for no actions as actions are the ground of his justifying us as hath bin already abundantly proved Nor before men for this action could not have declared the truth of his faith to them that never heard of the man or his Action But God having ordeyned him to bee a Father of the Faithfull and pattern of all beleevers to the worlds end and to confer Blessedness with Abraham upon all that walk in the steps of the Faith of our Father Abraham Ro. 4. 9. 12. hath recorded this Action of his to justifie and magnifie the truth of his Faith to all that in all ages shall beleeve and to incite them by his patterne by the like eminent obedience to justifie their Faith also to others 2. We are not to enquire what the evil world will judge of such an Action but whether Abraham or rather the spirit of God working in and by Abraham did not give in this Action a sufficient demonstration to convince the evill world much more the saints chosen out of the world of the truth of his Faith Which conviction if the evill world will carnally neglect or cursedly oppose it shall leave them the more inexcusable in the day of Judgement B. Was not he the Justifier beer which was the imputer of Righteousness but God was the imputer of Righteousness ver 23. Therefore God was the Justifier So I leave that Interpretation to sleep This is one of his extravagancies He hath all this while disputed of Justification by works what he cannot prove of works now he proves of Faith James saith Abraham beleeved God and it was imputed to him for righteousness Was it imputed to him of God for a partiall or for a perfect righteousness If but unto righteousness in part let him prove it or stand guilty before God for perverting his word If in the whole then is there no place left for works to challenge a part Or let him produce from James the like sentence of works imputed to Abraham to Righteousness else he puts the handle of his Argument into our hands to retort it upon him Abrahams Faith was imputed to him by the testimony of Iames to righteousness Ergo by the testimony of Iames works were not so imputed to him So his Epiphonem I leave that interpretation to sleep is the only sound thing that he hath spoken to this question For he hath said nothing that hath any power to awaken much less to rowze it So that it may sleep and that securely and in safety because they are but false Alarms that he soundeth against it The second interpretation as Mr. Br. terms it or as it is indeed the second homonymy or different sense of words wherin our Divines affirm Iames and Paul to speak in sound one but in meaning disagreeing eyther from other is in the word Faith as hath been sayd Paul when he attributes justification to Faith without works means a living faith fruitfull in good works Iames where he denies Faith without works to justifie means a dead faith a meer profession of faith that hath neither life nor being much less fruitfulness in good works That Iames takes the word Faith in this sense appears by these Reasons from the Text it selfe 1. From the scope of his dispute which we shall find to be as I sayd to beat down the presumption of carnall professors who reposed the hope of salvation wholly upon a bare profession of faith though the faith wherof they boasted had no vertue to sanctification obedience and to prove that alone to be a justifying Faith which is alive to good works This even Cajetan himself one of the pillars Cajetan in Jacob. of the Romish Church giveth as the scope of the Text as I have shewed he further expresseth himself thus Adverte hic prudens Lector quod Iacobus non sentit Fidem sine operibus mortuum esse c. Quoniam constat nos per fidem justificari etiam sine operibus sed sentit fidem sine operibus i. e. renuentem operâri vel non paratam operari esse mortuum esse vanam non justificare That is Let the prudent Reader heer note that Iames means not that faith is dead without works to accompany and help it in justifying us for it is evident that faith justifieth even without works but his meaning is that faith without works that is that refuseth or is not in a readiness to good works is dead vain and justifieth not Thus he makes the scope of James heer to prove that an idle and fruitless faith is not a saving or justifying faith So that we find it easier in this argument to find the truth from the very Papists than from Mr. Br. 2. From the 14. ver where James putting the question of faith without works saith not indefinitely can faith but annexeth the article to it 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 can this faith save Is there power in such a faith to save which hath no power to sanctifie In like maner as heere ver 20. What in our Translation is rendred faith absolutely is there also in the Originall put with the restriction of the same article that faith which is without works is dead 3.
works are required to it viz. The fear of God hope in his mercy Love Repentance a desire to receive the Sacraments a purpose to lead a new life and keep the Commandements under this lâ—st speciall they comprize all good works whatsoever Nay so far are both parties from this Faith that Faith onely justifieth that Both teach we are justified by Works only For 5 We are justified by the Act of Faith which is a work and a Law so that if we are not justified by works Faith it self must be excluded from justifying Though we are not justified by any works i. e. by any works of the Law yet by a work of the Gospel such as Faith is we may be justified 6 Our Adversaries i. e. the Protestants consent together in this that good works are not necessary to salvation otherwise than by the necessity of their presence but that they have not any relation to salvation as merits or causes or conditions thereof c. We contrariwise say that good works are necessary to a righteous man unto salvation by way of causality or efficiency because they effect or work salvation 7 When the Apostle saith we are justified by Faith and not by Works there is to be understood a Synecdoche in the words of Paul that when he saith we are justified by Faith hee meaneth not without works but by Faith and works together so that Faith is put for Faith works of Faith 8 The good works of justified men which effect their Justification are absolutely just and in their Mode or manner perfect 9 So the perfection of our righteousnes and Justification is not from Faith but from works For Faith doth but begin Justification and afterward it hath assumed to it self Hope and Charity it doth by these perfect it 10 Good works merit without all doubt yet not by any intrinsecall vertue and worth in themselves but by vertue of Gods promise A promise made with a condition of work brings to pass that he which performs the work is said to have merited the thing promised and may challenge the reward as his debt in Law 11 The Hereticks teach that it is unpossible for a righteous man to fullfill Gods Law The Catholicks teach that it is absolutely possible for a righteous man to fullfill it by the help of Gods Grace and Spirit of Faith and Charity infused into them in their Justification 12 The contrary doctrine which denyeth Justification by works and the Merit of works is a pernicious doctrine an enemy to all good endeavours good works invites all to a licentiousness of sinning and to transgress without fear or shame what evil will he fear or what good will he not despise who thinks faith alone sufficient to righteousness 13 Though a man hath received the infusion of grace and the Spirit of Faith and Charity and is now justified yet he is under the penalty and curse of the Law still For Christ hath given and God hath taken satisfaction onely for the fault but not for the punishment so that when God hath fully pardoned the fault he may and will inflict the punishment upon the offender 14 Yea this punishment remains upon the Justified both inlife and death and after death in Purgatory 15 For the Righteous or Justified man is so under the obligation of Gods Law that except he shall fullfill it he shall not be saved 16 Because our Justification being still conditionall even after we are Justified may be somtimes lost somtimes reteined now had and then lost and after recovered yea and lost again as we do hinder or not hinder the Grace of God 17 No man can be assured of his eternall Election that he is ordeined of God to life or of his perseverance in grace to the end and consequently not of his salvation For the Scripture in express words teacheth that Salvation depends of the condition of works But no man can certainly conclude that he shall do much less persevere to do all that Christ hath Commanded 18 It cannot be that the Righteousness of Christ be imputed to us in that sense that by it we may be called and be formally righteous although it be true that Christs merits be imputed to us because God hath made them ours by donation and we may offer them to God the Father for our sinns because Christ hath taken upon him the burthen of making satisfaction for us and of reconciling us to God the Father yet the denomination of righteous persons is from the intrinsecall righteousnes in themselves 19 Though we are justified by the works which the Law commandeth yet are we not justified by them as they are works of the Law but as they are Evangelicall and works of the Gospel done in the strength of Christ and by the power of renewing grace powred upon the Elect by Christ under the Gospel 20 Love or Charity is the form of Justifying Faith so that when faith doth Justifie it justifieth by charity as its form which gives it its life and motion so that if Faith justifieth love justifieth either in an equality with it or more than it 21 Justifying Faith consisteth in the Assent of the judgement to all things which are written in the word of God No other faith is required of any But an implicit Faith is sufficient in the Laity and ignorant which are not acquainted with the Scriptures in whom it is enough to beleeve as the Church beleeveth i. e. as their Clergy teacheth and beleeveth though they do not explicitly and in particulars know what the Church beleeveth BAXTER JVstification is two-fold either in Trident. Conc. Sess 6. c. 6 7 8. Tilet in Apol p. 237. in defeÌ„s Trid. Conc. adversus ChemnitiuÌ„ part 1. title of Law or in sentence of Judgment In this later having out-runn the Papists to meet with them again he looks back to the former and makes it two-fold thus Justification in title of Law is to be considered either in its first point possession or in its after continuance and accomplishment The later he makes entire consequently in the way of opposition there used the former to be put in part Aph. p. 302. 311. The first point and possession of Justification I acknowledg to be by faith alone without either the concomitancy or co-operation of works Iidem Ibid. for they cannot be performed in an instant But the continuance and accomplishment of Justification is not without the joynt procurement of obedience Aphor. p. 302. The righteousness of the New Covenant i. e. in his sense faith and works is the only condition of our interest in and enjoyment of Bel. l. 1. de purg cap 14 Sect. 4. Ratio 4. Bell. lib. 4. de Just c. 2. the Old i. e. of the righteousness of Christ to justification Both these righteousnesses are absolutely necessary to salvation Aph. Thes 17. 19. 60. and from thence every where untill the very end of his Book The bare Act of beleeving is
not Trid. Conc. in the forecited place the only Condition of the New Covenant but severall other duties also are parts of that Condition I desire no more of those that deny this but that the Scripture may be judg Whosoever shall reduce the contrary Doctrine Bell. de Justif lib. 1. cap. 13 c. into practice viz. to seek salvation and Justification by faith only not at al by works it wil undâ—ubtedly damn him Those other duties that justifie are Repentance praying for pardon forgiving others Love sincere obedience works of Love i. e. all good works not faith alone or some of these works and vertues with it but all must have their concurrence to justifie Aphor. p. 235 236 237. 325. Nay so far are both parties from this Faith that Faith onely justifieth that Both teach we are justified by Works only For We are still said to be justified by Bell. de Justif lib. 1. Faith which is an Act of ours Append p. 80. Morall duties are part of the condition of our salvation aâ— for it to be performed And evâ— faith is a Morall duty So thâ— Daventria So Pemble cites the Papists objecting Treat of justif p. 37. according to Mr. Brs. doctrinâ— Morall works and duties alonâ— as such are required of us to Jâ—stification and not Faith it seâ— this way usefull but as a moraâ— work and duty Append. p. 80. When the Apostle saith by worâ— and not by faith only hee plainâ— makes them concomitant in procurâ—ment Bell. de necessitate operum ad salutem or in that kind of Causalâ— which they have especially seeing â— saith not as he is commonly inteâ—preted not by faith which is â— lone but not by faith onely â— the phrase Justified by works tâ— word by implyeth more than an â—dle concomitancy If they should onâ— stand by while Faith 〈◊〉 all â— would not be said we are justifiâ— by works Aph. p. 299 300. Faith in the largest sense as comprehendeth all the conditions See Weimrichius l. 1. in Epist ad Romanos c. 3. p. 207. the N C is when a sinner c. do beleeve the truth of the Gospell aâ— accept of Christ as his only Lord aâ— Saviour c. and sincerely thouâ— imperfectly obey him as his Lord foâ— Osor lib. 3. de Instit n. 70. giving others loving his people beâ—ring all what sufferings are imposeâ— diligently using his Means and Orâ—nances c. And all this sincerely â— to the end Aph. Thes 70. Apâ— Bel. lib 4. de Justif c. 10. Qu. de veritate honor operum p. 243. This personall Gospell-righteoâ—ness is in its kind a perfect Righâ—ousness and so far we may admit the doctrine of personall perfection Aphor Thes 24. The first point of Justification and that which is but a point the first point must needs be a very small pittance Bell. de Juâ—if lib. 1. â—ap 20. Malden in Matth. 9. of it I grant to be Faith alone but the accoÌ„plishment i. e. the perfitting thereof is not without the joynt procuremeÌ„t of obedience Aph. p. 302. In a Larger sence as promise is an obligation and the thing promised is â—el de Mer. called Debt so the performers of the Condition are called worthy and the thing promised is called Debt Thes â—ea all the â—apists as â—lleaged â—y Cal. Inst â—b 3. ca. 14. â—ect 12. â—ap 17. â—ect 3. 15. 26. Yea in this Meriting the obligation to reward is Gods ordinate Justice and the truth of his promise and the worthiness lieth in our performance of the Condition on our part Aph. pa. 141. As it was possible for Adam to have fullfilled the Law of works by that Bell. lib. 4. â—le Justif â—ap 1. power which he had received by nature So is it possible for us to fullfill the Conditions of the New Covenant i. e. the righteousness which the Law requireth by the power which we receive from the Grace of Christ But whether this be grace or no grace Pelagius his imaginary or the Gospel real grace he wil not let us know so that herein the Papists are more ingenious than he for they express themselves plainly of effectuall Grace indeed Thes 27. The Doctrine of Justification by Hos in Conâ—ut pa. 140 â—b 3. Faith onely tendeth to drive obedience out of the world For if men do once beleeve that it is not so much Canis inprefat in Andr. Vega Andr. Vega de Justif in Epist prefat Osor de Justif lib. 2 7. as a part of the Condition of their Justification will it not much tend to relax their diligence And it doth much confirm the world in their Soul-cozening Faith c. Aphor. pag. 325 326. It was not the intent of the Father Trident. Cone Sess 6. cap. 14 16. Sess 14. cap. 8 9. Bel. de Purgatorio Bel. de Poenitent lib. 4. or Son that by this satisfaction the offenders should be immediately delivered from the whole Curse of the Law and freed from the evill which they had brought upon themselves but some part must be executed in soul and body and remain upon them at the pleasure of Christ And this Curse is upon not onely affenders in generall but also upon the Elect and beleevers Aph. p. 65 66 68. Not till the day of Resurrection Judgement will all the effects of Sin Bellarmine and all his fellows Bel. de Justif lib. 4. cap. 7. Syn. Trid. ib. can 12. and Law wrath be perfectly removed from the beleevers justified Beleevers after they be justified are under the Law as it is a Covenant of works for life and death Aph. p. 78 79. 82. Onely a conditionall but not an absolute Andr. Vega de Fide operibus q. 2 So also Thomas Seotus Bellarmine discharge is granted to any in this life When we do perform the coÌ„dition yet still the discharge remains conditionall till we have quite finished our performance and where the condition is not performed the law is still in force shall be executed A. p. 82. The justification of beleevers in this life is conditionall ut supra Men that are but thus conditionally Bellarmine prosecuteth this Argument at large pardoned and justified may be unpardoned and unjustified again for their non-performance of the conditions and all the debt so forgiven be required at their hands so that there can be no certainty of perseverance to salvation Aph. Thes 44. He seems in the explication to lenifie his assertion but to it I have spoken before Our Legall Righteousnes is not personal or in our selves and in our own qualificatioÌ„s actions c. but wholly without us in Christ Our Evangelicall Bel. de justif Lib. 1. Righteousness consisteth in our own Actions of Faith Gospel obedience This is the onely Condition of our interest in the Righteousness of Christ Now by reason of this personall righteousnes consisting in the Recâ—â—tude of their own dispositions
and actions the godly are called Righteous in Scripture and their faith and duties are said to pleas God viz. at they are related to the Covenant of grace i. e. as they are coÌ„ditions procuring our Justification by Christ as well as in regard of the imputed Righteousnes which he addeth but as a cypher bringing no proof for it but all seemingly for the former Aphor. Thes 18 19 20 22 and its explication p. 119. c. We are justified by works commanded This is the generall vote of all Popish writers none excepted in the Law yet as they make up not our Legall but our Evangelicall Righteousness not as they are done upon legall terms but as they are conditions of the New Covenant This is the chief substaÌ„ce of Mr Brs whole book and it is a poorer shift to elude the doctrine of Paul than is that of the Papists Love is an essentiall part of Justifying Faith not properly a fruit of of it Aph. p 266. When Faith therefore The common Tenet of Papists not love is said to justifie it is said so to work in its essentiall work of accepting by Love pa. 268. That both are necessary to salvation are concurrent in apprehending Christ is doubtless p. 271. Love doth truly receive Christ c. p. 224. The people are to understand that for them to take upon trust from their Teachers what they cannot yet reach to see in its own evidence is less absurd and more necessary that many This also is a known Tenet among the Papists do imagin Epistle to the reader in the last page save two These may suffice for a Taste by which the reader may judge whether Mr. Brs and the Papists Barrells are filled with the same Herring or not Should I proceed to Compare also his and their equivocations ambiguities mentall reservations together with their purposed and not unwary Contradictions when to say and deny the same thing in severall places as may severally make for their advantage But specially if I should go on to Compare them how they bring the same arguments to prove their severall assertions and the same distinctions and other shifts of Sophistry to elude the Scriptures and reasons which make against them I should procedere ad infinitum almost begin but finde no end In alleaging the words of the severall Authors something here and there hath perhaps been abbreviated some words standing as cyphers without waight in reference to the questions Controverted interserted to make up some orderly Connexion of the following with the foregoing particular cited But no where have I wittingly Committed any such alteration of the words as to alter in one Title the sense of the Writer as will be evident to all that will but take the pains to examine the citations with their authentique or books from which they are cited Neither is there any one thing alleaged in which the two parties Cohere but what hath been still Controverted between the Papists and Protestants Else would it be easie to produce a thousand particulars wherein the Pope and Luther themselves speak one and the same thing without opposition or difference If any where when Mr. Br and the Papists speak the same words yet Mr. Br means not punctually the same thing with the Papists in every such allegation I undertake to manifest that he is worse and delivers more self-exalting Grace-depressing doctrine than they Yet all this is too little to set forth the frame of Mr. Brs spirit he may take himself injured and left too obscure if he be but matched with the Papists and have no pre-eminence granted him before and above them in exalting mans righteousnes and nullifying the Grace of God in Christ That we may not rob him of the praise to which his ambition seems to aspire we will grant to him that the Papists are but the Pigmies and he the Giant that in the battell between Michael and the Dragon he hath superexcelled more deserved the Scarlet Hat Miter Crosier yea Triple Crown it sâ—lf than they that have and wear them if not by his Art yet at least by his daring boldnes in his undertakings This service therefore I shall do him to manifest not onely his equality with but also his exâ—perancy above many of the famous Champions of Rome That many of the brave Cardinals Bishops Jesuits and Fryars of the Church of Rome are Protestants in the poynt of Justification as compared with Mr. Br and that he sheweth himself in many particularâ— about this doctrine a Papist of a deeper dye than the more modest Papists yea than some of the most Jesuitized and Trentified Rabbi's among them This shall be the business of the next Chapter CHAP. XVII A comparing of Mr. Baxters Doctrine with the Doctrine of some of the more Modest and other more Trentified and Jesuitized Papists in which he is found more Antichristian than they Papists 1 IT is to be noted that the Scripture attributeth this imputation of Righteousness to no other thing but Faith 2 Faith hath not of it self any efficacy as it is our act to forgive and reconcile but all its vertue proceeds from its object namely Christ whose vertue and merit God hath disposed to apply to the sinner unto Justification by Faith on him 3 If it be enquired how the Law of Faith is distinguished by Paul against the Law of works even of morall works when Faith also is comprehended under the genus or kind of works for to beleeve is our work The solution is that to beleeve in him that justifieth the ungodly leaneth upon the Righteousnes of another to wit of God through Christ but other works do lean upon their own Righteousness every work is in or after it self good and makes him good that hath it 4 If Faith as it is a certain Act and of it self should procure Righteousness then were not Righteousness given freely God hath not used works to justifie as he hath used Faith that men should not boast attributing Righteousness to the vertue or merit of works 5 Faith is not counted to us for Righteousness as if it self were made our Righteousness but because it brings a Righteousness on man before God not as it is an act of man then Grace should be of works for to beleeve is a kind of work but of Gods will as he hath willed that Righteousness should be given to man by Faith and the vertue of Christ upon whom man beleeveth should be communicated to the beleever This is to count or impute Faith to Righteousness before God 6 Whereas we attain a twofold Righteousness by Faith an inherent Righteousness c. by which we become pertakers of Gods nature and the Righteousness of Christ imputed to us c. It remains to be enquired upon which of these we ought to lean or trust and to account our selves justified before God My judgment is that we are to rest to rest I say as upon a stable
thing that firmly susteineth namely the Righteousness of Christ imputed to us and not on the holiness and grace inherent in our selves For this is unperfect c. therefore we cannot for it be counted Righteous before God But the imputed righteousness of Christ is a perfect righteousnes in which there is nothing that can offend the eyes of God but all things that can abundantly please him Vpon this alone therefore are we to rest as upon a thing sure and stable and to beleeve that by it alone we are justified 7 This may undoubtedly be affirmed and it is the opinion of all Divines that God can justifie men and make them pleasing and amiable to him without any inherent quality or habits infused 8 To the same purpose and somewhat more fully speaketh Bellarmine The guilt or obligation to punishment saith he may be taken away without the infusion of Righteousnes For nothing hinders by how much the less God can will the not ordeining to punishment and the pardoning of the offence and the not accounting him for an enemy to whom he hath not granted the gift of habituall Righteousness 9 The Scope of James in the second Chapter of his Epistle is to shew that we are justified not by a barren but by a fruitfull Faith 10 The meaning of James is not that Faith without works is dead c. For it is evident that we are justified by Faith even without works But his meaning is that Faith without works that is which refuseth to work or is noâ— disposed to work is a dead Faith vain and justifieth not What therefore James alleageth out of Gen. 15. Abraham beleeved God to this purpose he alleageth it that he beleeved being in readiness to work Therefore he saith that in the work of offering his Son the Scripture was fulfilled speaking of his Faith prepared to work It was fulfilled I say as to the execution of that great work to which his Faith was prepared 11 If any where in Scripture thou hearest reward or wages promised know that it is no otherwise due then by Gods promise freely he hath promised freely he gives If thou wilt abide in his Grace and Favour make no mention of thy Merits 12 All Papists consentingly make the Merits of Christ the foundation of mans merits as far as he can merit Neither Faith nor works nor doing nor sufferings say they have any other vertue to merit then what they receive from the merits of Christs death then as they are dipt in his blood this makes them acceptable to the Father 13 When Christ saith of the woman Luk. 7. 47. Many sins are forgiven her for she loved much it is to be understood not that she loved much and so her much love was the cause of her great forgiveness but contrarywise that because many sins were forgiven her therefore she loved much 14 To be given freely and to be a retribution to works are as much opposit as that which is free and that which is from Justice or as not due and debt And this way of inference the Apostle useth in the beginning of this 4th Chapter viz. speaking of Justification by Grace 15 The work of Justice is wages or Reward and this way of Justice Grace excludeth whose work is meer gift or Donation 16 In this verse the Apostle concludeth that Christ hath saved us from all the evill both of fault and punishment That there is nothing of condemnation remaining to them that are in Christ because all judgment is taken away both to the fault and the punishment 17 It is certain that when originall sin is remited that the evils which it brought are not remitted and taken away as all finde by experience Notwithstanding they remain not under the consideration of punishment because the fault being taken away there can be no desert as to punishment remaining 18 I will remember their iniquities no more saith the Lord i. e. I will neither in this world injoin any Penance for them nor in that which is to come inflict any punishment for them So hath the Holy Ghost promised that our sins shall be forgiven by the New Covenant of Grace 19 In regard of the uncertainty of our own righteousness and the danger of vain glory it is most safe to repose our whole confidence in the sole mercy and benignity of God Baxter THe bare act of beleeving is not the onely condition of the New Cardinall Contarenus in Rom. 4. Covenant but severall other duties also are parts of that Condition The Common opinion that justifying faith as justifying doth consist in any one single act is a Wretched Mistake by the one act of faith he means Faith in opposition to works Aph. p. 235 248. Faith it self is our righteousnesse viz. our Evangelicall as Christ is our Legall Righteousnesse It self Toletus a Iesuite upon Rom. 3. is imputed to us for righteousnesse Aph. p. 125 126. It justifieth as it is an act of ours and as it is a morall duty App. p. 80. 102. Both Faith and workes make up one condition one righteousness one perfect righteousness of our own by Cardinall Cajetan upon Rom. 3. which we merit to be justified by God by the legall righteousness which is in Christ And consequently Faith doth not lean upon anothers and works upon their own righteousness but both make up one compounded righteousness and goodness which make us righteous and good also and by this righteousness and goodness deservers of justification salvation Aph. Thes 17 18 19 20 23 24 26. and scatteringly throughout the whole Book Faith as an act of ours and of it self with other workes procureth Righteousness And God hath used Toletus the Iesuit up on Rom. 1. works to justifie as he hath used faith even in the same kinde of causality So we have found Mr. Br. oft affirming as may be seen in our former quotations Let him deny that he holds the consequents of these two Antecedents if he will It is so far from being an error to affirm that Faith it self is our righteousness that it is a truth necessary for every Christian to know yea it both is our Righteousnesse and is imputed to us for righteousnesse The very personall performance of faith shall be imputed to us for a sufficient personall payment of righteousnes Idem in Rom. 4. as if we had paid the full duty and righteousnesse which the Law requireth This is the substance of his words though not his very words which being continued in terms of a Metaphor cannot without the citing of the whole similitude be expressed to the understanding otherwise Aphor. p. 125 126 129. There is a two-fold righteousnesse attainable by Christ at least in words the one an inherent righteousnesse in our selves consisting in the seed and acts of Faith Love Holinesse c. the other in Christ but made over to beleevers by Gods Donation if not imputation Both of these are absolutely necessary to salvation neither is
and conditions of the Law and the works and conditions of the Gospel 1 He onely saith all but proveth nothing therefore deserves onely the contempt of not an Answer from his Reader 2 He saith nothing but what he hath been taught by the Papists that though we cannot be justified by the works of the Law yet we are justified by Gospel works such as Faith is And must the Conclusions of the holy Apostaticall not Apostolicall Church be Canonicall to us because he hath made them so to himself 3 If he therefore forbears to prove what he saith because he holds it enough proved by the Papists already and so transmits his Reader to their Writings We also refer the reader to the perusall of the works of our Protestant writers that have dashed into shivers all such seeming proofs of the papists and brought to light the truth which they sought to imprison in darkness 4 Whatsoever he fableth here of Gospel works yet are they all legall or works of the Law which he obtrudeth upon men to Justification or as he here phraseth it to acquire part in Christ even to Faith it self he attributes no such property or power but as it is a morall work which the Law commandeth as we have found him speaking 5 to come to that in which the whole force of his reasoning here lyeth It is false what he affirmeth either that Paul doth in express words or in the sense and scope of his speech exclude onely the works of the Law but never the fulfilling of the same works as required by the Gospel for unless he so meaneth he saith nothing from their co-operation with Faith to Justification or that this is the reall difference between Legall and Gospel works that whereas in matter and substance they are one yet as they are done to justifie us by their own righteousness they are works of the Law but as done to justifie us by the righteousness of Christ so they are works of the Gospel or Gospel Conditions This is nothing but the Sophistry of a brain sophisticated with strong delusions to falsifie and nullifie the pure word of God For 1 What doth he bring to prove â—â—y least particle of what he saith if he had the testimony of God and Christ on his side would he leave their name and authority unmentioned 2 The Apostle when he treats of Justification by Christ doth not onely exclude works of the Law but works indefinitely and universally any works all works from having any power ordinate or not ordinate to give us part in it or him as hath been fully in its place before demonstrated 3 His dispute every where is as was declared and confirmed in the former Chapter not so much what is the righteousnesse which by its own power and vertue justifieth but what it is that instrumentally uniteth us to Christ for justification by him This he denyeth to all to any works and attributes to Faith alone as hath been there evidenced 4 In such places where he expresly speaketh of the works of the Law he means the Law written as it was given and pertained to the Jewes alone as a signall evidence of Gods love to them above all other Nations This is cleer from the Apostles own Testimony Ro. 2. 12 14. 17. 5. 13. as also where he numbreth Circumcision the observation of times and meats and other rituall peeces of the Ceremoniall Law together with the morall works of the Decalogue And will Mr. Br say that these rituall works are Conditions also of our part in Christ 5 When he so giveth the Adject of the Law to works calling them the works of the Law he doth it to beat down the pride and boasting of the Jewes that gloried in the Law Rom. 2. 23. declaring to them that although the Law were one principall prerogative vouchsafed to them not to any other people Rom. 9. 4. yet the works of the Law so glorious and privilegious had nothing to do with Faith to further our Justification by Christ but that the Gentiles without the Law had as free accesse to God by Faith in Christ as they with all the furniture of the Law and its works 6 Paul doth exclude all works under what name or notion soever from justifying so as Faith justifieth or to be instrumentall and conditionall to justification as Faith is But Faith is instrumentall or as M. Br. terms it conditionall to receive Christ to Justification Thereforr works are excludeded from being so conditionall or to be Conditions of the Gospel as he phraseth it This is apparent by those Scriptures where Paul saith Not of works but of Faith by Faith without works to him that worketh not but beleeveth c. as hath been 〈…〉 before alledged and amplified And all this of works without the adjection of the Law yea of works done hundreds of years before the Law to which Paul had reference in such disputes was given 7 Paul denyeth to works any operation in the Justification of Abraham or of us that obtein the same Justification with Abraham But the works which are denyed to justifie Abraham could not in Pauls sense be the works of the Law being acted 430 years before the Law was given and the Justification which is common to Abraham and his spirituall seed was and is justification by Christ So that works have nothing to do with Faith to condition us for justification by Christ This hath been made out in the former Chapter from Rom. 4. 1 c. 8 And lastly If such imperious arbitrary unreasonable and unproved distinctions be harkened to in Divinity what one part either of Law or Gospel shall abide sacred The whole word as Mr. Br. the great Artificer in the Trade somewhere complaines shall be made a waxen Nose For with as much integrity as Mr. B. hath here used to put the greatest Article of the Gospel to a topsie turnie may I mock at all the Commandments of the Decalogue with a distinctionary vanity to nullifie them Thou shalt have no other Gods before me True may I say but God meaneth other Gods of the Pagans devising not excluding the Gods of my own feigning Thou shalt not make to thy self any graven Image That is right said the Greeks once but God here excludeth the graven Images which the Romanes not the painted Images which we adore Thou shalt not steale the thief may here distinguish the lean Cattell are here excluded not the fat Thou shalt not murther the Pharisees glosse upon it was to wit my friends but my enemies I may The like might I say of the rest yea of every Gospel truth also and all with as good reason as Mr. Br. here deals with Paul We are justified or have part in Christ not by works but by Faith by Faith without works saith Paul Right saith Mr. Br. for he excludeth works onely as they are works of the Law not as they are works and Conditions of the Gospel Yet Vltra Sauromatus fugere
ugliness of this imaginary Chimera Here therefore it shall suffice leaving the Reader to the perusall of what hath been said already upon this subject to mind him of these two things 1. That both the whole and every least fragment of all that is here collected whether we look to the substance or Artifice used about it is not his but borrowed partly from the Papists partly from the Socinians and their Apes the Arminians as hath been before shewed and if I shall be called thereto I am ready more fully to shew by quoting the Authors out of whom he hath transcribed all almost word for word to his use So that the Reader may consult with such of our Writers that have answered their sophistry if he desire to read more fully and largely upon this subject and not expect it from mee who have already transgressed as some will judg by my too much largeness thereon as to Mr. Baxter 2 That although the voyce here be the voyce of Jacob yet the hands are the hands of Esau Sweet words but subverting doctrine in matter and substance Pills of poyson wrapt up in gold we except not against the gold but the poyson therein inclosed not against the Terms of words considered by themselves but against the pernicious doctrine which they palliate Whether we ascribe too much to Faith by making it an instrument see the examination of his answer to the last question which he propoundeth in the explication of Thes 56. But how false and fallacious his flaattering words which he useth here to make tolerable yea sweet his arrogant doctrine of Justification by works viz. that Wee that is I and the Papists with Socinus and Arminius make our righteousnesse but a Condition or Medium or a poor improper Causa sine qua non no part of satisfaction for our unrighteousness Not as works simply considered nor as Legall works nor as Meritorious works Nor as good works with which God is pleased but as our Gospel-righteousness and conditions to which the free Law-giver hath promised justification and life will easily appear to him that considereth what how much hee ascribeth to works Though he cals works a poor Causa sine qua non yet himself affirmeth that some Causes sine qua non deserve farr greater praise in morall respect than some that have a proper Causality do Aph. pa. 216. which though in words he deny of Faith meaning by faith all obedience and good works which hee calls the severall Acts of Faith Aph. p. 126. that it doth so deserve Aphor. p. 224. yet in matter and substance he affirms it And Nulla fides verbis cum res adversa loquatur For as I have more than hinted before 1 He maketh our righteousnes of works and Christs satisfactory righteousness co-ordinate and collateral in the procurement of our Justification the one as absolutely necessary as the other to the attainment of this end the one to purchase a possibility of Justification the other to render that which was but in possibility actual and effectual to us Both satisfactory the one as a sufficient Fine and payment the other as satisfactory Rent and homage Aph. Thes 17 18 19. pa. 129. 2 He puts both in the same order and kind of Causes making our righteousness and Christs satisfaction to be both the Causa sine qua non Thes 56. For although he names Faith there yet himself declares himselfe under Faith to mean and comprehend obedience also This Civility alone he vouchsafeth to Christ that he names Christs satisfaction before our faith or obedience because it seems that is the elder But in order power and authority to the producing of this effect Christ hath no pre-eminence given him above man 3 He affirms mans righteousness to be as perfect as Christs righteousness in order to Justification viz. both perfect in suo genere Christs righteousness perfect to do its work mans to its work or as he explains himself both perfect in the perfection of sufficiency in order to its end So that here also is a parity no efficiency in Christs righteousness without mans nor in mans without Christs to justifie But when the two perfections meet if neither lose its perfection they may after the world is ended perfect our justification Thes 24. p. 132. In the mean while till our works be added to Christs satisfaction what he saith of faith that he every where implyeth of the satisfaction of Christ that it is dead being alone as to the use and purpose of justifying And so as works make faith alive so they make Christs satisfaction alive as to the attainment of its end justification 4 That works justifie in the same kind of Causality and procurement with faith not only proving Faith to be sound but themselves being in the same obligation with Faith not idle Concomitants only standing by while Faith doth all which some fools might imagine hee meaneth when he calls them onely necessary Antecedents of Justification pa. 223. Nay they are Concomitants with Faith in the very Act of procuring it and in that kind of Causality which they have p. 299 300. 5 They do all this as they are works Even Faith it self justifieth as it is an Act of ours Append. p. 80. and as a morall duty Append. p. 102. So do all other Morall duties as they are part of our sincere obedience to Christ ibid. 6 That we are justified not only by works Aph. p. 300. and according to our works but also for our works pa. 320. that good works are a ground and Reason of it p. 221. 7 That we are justified for our works that is for the Merit of them Not Merit in the most proper and strict sense which is the performance of somewhat not due by one that is not under the Soveraignty of him to whom it is performed of that worth in it selfe which bindeth him to whom it is done in strict and naturall justice to requite him Such an obligation can no creature lay upon God Neither could perfect obedience in respect of the Law of Works if man had continued still upright have so merited But so far as it was possible for a perfect man to have merited under the Covenant of works hee may now merit also under the Covenant of Grace by his works viz. in an improper way of Meriting where the obligation to reward is Gods Ordinate Justice and the truth of his promise and the worthinesse lyeth in our performance of the Condition on our part Thus farr might Adam in his perfection have merited according to the Law of works and so farr may wee merit according to the Covenant of Grace Aphorism Thesis 26. pa. 138. 140 141. Let all this be laid together and who can but per-force acknowledge together with the horns of the Lamb the voyce of the Dragon also and all that he hath spoken pretendedly to the diminution of works under the fine terms of his causa sine qua non his
whatsoever notions of naturall righteousnes and holines of God of good and evill of truth and falshood there are in naturall men without the word the same not to be ingraven into them by nature or remainders of any Law written in mans heart at his first Creation but of Gods immediate infusion by a generall and common operation of the Spirit in time distributed to some in a greater to some in a lesser measure to some scarce at all as his infinite wisedom shall see it to make most for his glory And from these Mr. Baxter seems elswhere not to dissent And how then can that be nulled and repealed or what new super-addition can there be made to that whith was never in being much less can a Covenant stand firm which was never existent If the second then contrary to his Assertion the Old Covenant in respect of our personall Obligation to it and of the dependence of our life and death upon it according to our personall obedience or disobedience to it is nulled there being now no accessible Paradise nor tree of knowledg of good and evill about which our obedience may be exercised or disobedience manifested If the third Mr. Baxter speaketh point-blank in contrariety to the Apostle in saying that the Covenant of Grace was added to the Law or Covenant of works For the Apostle giveth the priority to the Promise or Covenant of Grace and affirmeth expresly that the Law or Covenant of works was many hundred years after added to it Gal. 3. 17 19. So that we know not where to meet with Mr. Baxter to understand much less to answer him 4 He hath a mentall reservation also when he affirmeth that the Covenant of Grace was super-added as the onely possible way of life Who knows whether he pronounceth it the onely possible way to life as it hath fulture and supportance from the Law and Covenant of Works to which it is super-added and so Moses and Christ meeting together in the Mount do save a poor sinner and what the Law could not do of it self being weak through the flesh that could not fulfill it Rom. 8. 3. Now by the super-added help of Grace it doth perform Or as it is operative in it self and by it self saving by its own soveraign power without any help from the works of the Law Why doth not Mr. Baxter speak out Veritas non quaerit angulos Truth loveth to shew its face in the cleer light not hiding it self in the clouds I do no wrong to Mâ— Baxter in pressing upon him for his meaning herein every man may see in the sequell of his Tractate that grace and faith have with him very little power to justifie or save but what they borrow and fetch home in a Cardinals Hat or Monks Cowl from good works 5 And he leaves us in the dark and doubtfull what he means by the word hereby when he saith Christ doth not null the Covenant hereby it is a relative word and must have its meaning from that which is antecedent in the tenth Aphorism viz. Christs prescribing of a new Law and tendering of a new Covenant The old Covenant is not nulled hereby saith Mr. Baxter Doth he mean by the tendering of the New Covenant Or the offer of Grace This makes nothing to the end he drives at None conceiving that the offer or tendering of Grace to a sinner doth forth with free him from the Curse of the Law untill he accepts the tender Or doth he mean that the effectualizing of the Covenant of Grace to a sinner or the taking of him effectually into the Covenant of Grace doth not make void the Law to him as a Covenant of works This is indeed like himself and agreeable to his purpose He is not consistent with himself nor with the most subtle and sophisticall of the Papists whom he loves as dearly as himself if he do not so mean Nevertheles because he is willing here to pass under a vizzard I will not trouble my self to unmask him Himself will openly enough discover himself to us when the humour takes him At present let him be sullen 6 The same might I say of that which followeth The former i. e. The Covenant of works or the Law still continueth to command prohibite promise and threaten A wide dominion and large authority but who the subjects servants are over whom it is exercised he leaves as all the rest in an ambiguity is not disposed to tell us except the next words do it So that the sins even of the justified are still breaches of that Law and c. 7 But here also he determineth to passe away in the dark tells us onely what power the Law hath against the sins not against the persons of the justified that it threatens and curseth their transgressions but whether onely upon the person of Christ satisfying for them or els in their own persons also after Christ hath so satisfied is a secret that at this time and in this place we must not know from him though if he had not let it out before he would have been in pangs of travell with it untill he were delivered of it Thus have we found M. Baxter in this Aphorism fighting against the fore-mentioned Conclusion and the Scriptures that confirmed it with his sword in the scabbard How terrible the skirmish was they that felt either the point or edge of his weapon can tell you Suppose he should now unsheath it who could stand before his drawn sword This he is about to do by his Explication Mr. B. I acknowledge that this assertion is disputable and difficult and many places of Scripture are usually produced which seem to contradict it I know also that it is the judgement of learned and godly men that the Law as it is a Covenant of works is quite null and repealed in regard of the sins of believers Yea many do believe that the Covenant of works is repealed to all the the world and onely the Covenant of grace in force Against both these I maintain this assertion by the Arguments which you find under the following Position 13. And I hope notwithstanding that I extoll free grace as much and preach the Law as little in a forbidden sense as though I held the contrary opinion First he acknowledgeth his Assertion to be disputable and difficult We have found it not onely to be so but to be so of his own making by means of his clothing it with the darknes of such and so many ambiguities equivocations c. Against it he saith there is a two-fold authority usually produced the one Divine the othee humane The one he despiseth and blowes of as contemptible the other he falsifieth I am confident that he may have somewhat to say in answer to it 1 There is Divine authority or many Scriptures produced which seem to contradict his Assertion And here take we notice in how base esteem he hath the Holy Scriptures of those many Scriptures he
the condition yet still the discharge remains Here he followeth Arminius because in this point Arminius over-runs the Papists conditionall saith he till we have quite finished the performance i. e. till we have gasped out the last breath So that in this life there is no discharge but a conditionall promise that possibly we may in the world to come be discharged what is this discharging but Justifying and absolving us from what but from the sinn which we have committed and from the vengeance which the law threateneth such a justification he denyeth to be attainable in this life And this argument he thus urgeth Whosoever is not perfectly justified is still under the law as a Covenant of works But the very Saints are not in this world so Justified ergo they are under the Law c. The second that Justification in the world to come must be procured by mans own willing c. He delivereth plainly enough in that he saith that we must perform yea continue performing the conditions untill we go out of this world and then we may possibly obtein to be justified in the world to come What are the conditions by which we procure the discharge Mr. B tells us afterward as we shall finde Faith and good works These must we observe and continue observing to the end to procure justification after this life ended And so it is by our own strong and lasting endeavours that after the world is ended our sins may be possibly forgiven and we saved Here if we grant unto him that we are Gods hirelings thus to work in his vineyard the whole day the whole term of our life and that Justification is the wages of our work to be paid in the evening i. e. at the end of the world then it will follow indeed what he deduceth hence that untill the world be ended we are still under the Curse of the Law 3 That they that are in Christ may fall away and be damned if they continue in their Apostacy or may after their many apostacies oft renew again their union with Christ and so at last be justified he speaks out fully in telling us It is not one instantaneous act of beleeving but a continued faith that shall quite discharge us that no longer are we discharged than we are beleevers and when we cease to beleeve the Law is still in force and condemneth Either he reasoneth from an unpossible supposition or a possible and usuall Case incident to beleevers If from an impossibility it makes not at all for his purpose If it were possible for him to fall from grace then should beleevers be under the Law again But it is not possible c. ergo they shall never be reduced under the law again But he argueth as from a possible and usuall case and then if we grant him that the Saints may fall away it will follow that they are not absolutely freed from the curse of the law in this life But in granting this we grant our selves to be Popish and may shake hands with Mr. Br. The fourth that no man can in this life be certain of salvation depends on the former For if we cannot be certain of our perseverance we cannot be certain of eternall happines and by necessary consequence it must be concluded also that we are not discharged from the bondage of the Law But we cannot grant the premisses from which such inferences are drawn unless we will grant away our selves also in despair to perdition And therefore we deny to Mr. B all his argumentation here as having nothing of Christ but all of Antichrist in it I mean not to prosecute in this place a dispute against Mr. B about these four pernicious errors which he holds in common with other Papists himself will elswhere minister to me an occasion of speaking more fully to them where he doth not onely touch upon but also professedly handle the most if not all of them Here I shall onely to preserve the simple from his guile manifest upon what fallacious grounds he pitcheth these his assertions They are principally these two 1 That Faith as an infused gift of grace and a part of our inherent righteousnesse doth justifie when it is not onely as the Papists say Fides informis but also Formata perfected both in its duration of time and in all its Concomitants the other habits vertues and gifts of grace such as are love mercy goodness temperance c. and in the fruits and acts of all these which are good works For so shall we finde him in the sequele of this tractate teaching 2 That Faith and all those its Concomitants with their fruits and effects depend upon our freewill to gain and retein refuse and lose them at the pleasure and lust of our corrupt freewill These points being granted all those foure errors will follow as necessary deductions thence But the orthodox Churches hold and the Oracles of the Gospel teach otherwise 1 That our Justification floweth from our union to Christ that All in Adam are under the Law under the Curse unblessed unjustified unpardoned But that all which are in Christ are justified pardoned c. So the Apostle Phil. 3. 8. c. All things are doung to me that I may winn Christ and be found in him not having mine own righteousnes which is of the law but that which is through the Faith of Christ c. Here was the Apostles righteousnes and Justification to winn Christ and be found in him And this union unto Christ is made up principally by the Spirit by which Christ apprehendeth and uniteth us to himself No otherwise is our Justification attributed to faith than as it is the instrument by which we apprehend Christ to our selves as we are apprehended of Christ to himself and bring home into our bosom◠the benefit of this our union to him together with the sense and joy of our Justification by him This I shall have occasion to illustrate and prove more fully before I part with Mr. Baxter and because he will call me to it in another place here I shall say no more of it 2 That our Faith both in its existence and perseverance dependeth not upon the fickle sweek of our own freewill but upon the support of Gods power and unchangeable love and upon the vertue of Christs mediation and faithfullnes of the Mediator though our freewill be mutable yet the gifts calling of God are without repentance i. e. without Change Rom. 11. 29. He that hath begun a good work in you will performe it till the day of Jesus Christ Phil. 1. 6. Though our faith be weak yet we are preserved by the power of God through Faith and salvation Christ hath by his sacrifice purchased to us not onely salvation but faith also both in its being and persevering to apprehend him and it to our persevering Consolation They shall never perish saith he neither shall any man 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 any one
which is in our selves could be more excellent than that which Christ is made to us untill this new Doctor took the Chair to teach Mysteries and by inverting and misnaming Scripture-phrase hath so taught Nevertheles it behoved Mr. Br having resolved to keep on the triple Crown upon the Popes head by stablishing justification upon works though it were to the uncrowning of Christ to reject uprightnes and to seek after inventions Eccles 7. 29. First he must hold beleevers to be under both Covenants els while he builds up one peece of Babylon he should pluck down another and give his judgment against his holines in one point while he acts the Champion for him in another and adventure with all the loss of his Cause if he keep not as strong hold-fast in the Covenant of works with the one hand as in the Covenant of grace with the other 2 He must call the Condition or means of applying Christ to us or obteining interest in his satisfaction our Righteousnes els he will not be able to evade those Scriptures which assert our Justification by faith But by this feat he thinks himself in a fit posture both to answer this and to bring in all qualifications and works that he pleaseth in a partnership with faith to justifie True will he say we are justified by Faith as a part of our righteousnes and by all other good qualifications and works as other parts of our righteousnes 3 He must call faith and works our Evangelicall righteousnes having seen in what a stinking trance some of his dirty deer brethren in their disputes have been left when they would prove that good works as works of the Law do justifie and how little better they have fared who would have them to justifie onely as works of grace having not had enough subtlety to prove them Gospel or Grace works Need had he therefore to put himself upon strong and strange inventions that himself may not stick in the same mire after them But enough in generall let us hear him deliver his own minde in particulars B. Thes 17. p. 102. As there are two Covenants with their distinct Conditions So is there a twofold Righteousnes and both of them absolutely necessary to salvation The latter member of this proposition is grounded upon the former the Thesis upon the Hypothesis As true is the latter as the former But how true is the former that there are two Covenants and that they have their distinct Conditions First when he saith there are two Covenants he meaneth two Covenants in force to the very Saints in Christ that while they are under grace to salvation they are also under the Law to the Curse and Condemnation This hath been his busines to Confirm in the former part of this Treatise and he owns it in the explication of this Thesis But this is false as in disapproving of his arguments before hath been proved They are no more under the Law who are once under grace Rom. 6. 14. 2ly Neither have the two Covenants their distinct Conditions according to Mr. Br. For Thes 4. he makes the Condition of the first Covenant Perfect Obedience or Righteousnes The same he makes here the Condition of the New Covenant viz. Faith and Obedience but both as integrant parts of our own inherent righteousnes as we have partly seen and shall be forced to see more fully in that which is to come after So that we grant him that as true as there are two Covenants with their distinct Conditions in force to the same persons so true is it that there is a twofold Righteousness and both absolutely necessary to salvation if by salvation he means Justification At falsum prius ergo posterius When he brings proofs to Confirm his assertions he may meet with a larger answer In mean while a simple Negation stands fittest in opposition to his bare affirmation That which he brings in the explication to Confirm it hath been answered over and over before Onely he tells us in the upshot that He will take it as granted To which I answer that there hath been such a generation of men still upon earth so fingerative that will needs take that which was never granted and delivered to them such is the main bulk of Mr. Brs doctrine in this book taken but never delivered to him from God or his Christ Bax. The usuall confounding of these Righteousnesses saith he doth much darken the Controversies about Justification And Mr. Br doth no less cleer the Controversie than an Ecclipse the Sun-beams He proceeds to explain what this twofold Righteousnes is so absolutely necessary to salvation Bax. The legall Righteousness saith he is not in us or consisteth not in any qualifications of our own persons or actions performed by us But it is wholly without us in Christ Thes 18. p. 103. The righteousnes of the New Covenant is the onely Condition of our interest in and enjoyment of the Righteousnes of the old c. Thes 19. p. 107. Our Evangelicall Righteousnes is not without us in Christ as our Legall Righteousnes is but consisteth in our own actions of Faith and Gospel Obedience c. Thes 20. p. 108. What there is more in any of these three positions is transcribed at large before To the 18 Thesis he annexeth in the explication a dispute against the Papists not to Confute them as adversaries to the truth for joyning mans righteousnes with Christs righteousness unto justification for herein he professeth entire Communion with them but to admonish them as his loving brethren to defend this their Conclusion of Justification by their own righteousness not under the terms of their legall but of their Evangelicall righteousness Because the legall righteousnes is unpossible but the Evangelicall righteousnes according to his carving and forming of it is easie to be fullfilled and almost unpossible to be violated Not that the Papists were wholly ignorant of this mystery untill Mr. Br here teacheth them Nay many of them had and pleaded it very artificially before he was born And himself hath learned it of them But he as the most proficient of all their disciples hath more fully improved it so that now he becomes a teacher to his very Masters and exhorts them to learn of him the pious feat and fraud of making use of this distinction yet further than ever they had the wit or grace to devise even to all matters and purposes that tend to the eluding of the word of Christ and the advantaging of the holy mother Church in her doctrine of Justification that is altogether Contradictory to the doctrine of the Scriptures upon the same Argument To the 19th 20th positions he annexeth an explication of both of these and of all that was said in the two former positions also In it we shall finde whatsoever deserveth a fuller Answer than hath been yet given to all and every of these four positions or any thing in all or any of them conteined not
was a voluntary agent Called and Consecrated by the Father to be our Priest Heb. 5. 5. No man taking his life from him but himself laying it down of himself for us and in our stead Joh. 10. 18. Thus he became the purchaser of righteousnes for us and is made of God Righteousnes to us 1 Cor. 1. 30. But all this he did not by the rule of the Law or Covenant of works but of the secret and sacred Covenant made between the Father and him Therefore having mentioned the voluntarines of his suffering in the fore quoted Joh 10. 18. He addeth This Commandment have I received of my Father implying that this his satisfactory obedience in dying for us had its regulating not by the old Covenant of works or any precept of the Law given to man but by the Covenant which had passed between the Father and the Son in reference to man and a speciall positive Commandment from the Father agreeing with the tenor of that Covenant As for our apprehending and pleading the righteousnes of Christ to Justification impudency it self will neither affirm it to be done by the rule of the Covenant of law and works nor deny it to be done in Conformity to the Covenant of grace and rule of the Gospel Or because Christ hath born the penalty of the Lawes breach shall he therefore be Called our legall righteousnes as from the formall reason of the thing Nay both that Christ suffered and the Father received and accepted his sufferings in full satisfaction for our transgressions That the Father sent him to satisfie the justice of his law for us and for his satisfactions sake he doth no more impute to us the breach of his Law All this is the fruit of his grace and in conformity to the Gospel and Covenant of grace not to the Law and Covenant of works Therefore if we give the denomination from the formall reason of the thing we must call it our Evangelicall not Legall righteousnes which is in Christ Touching the other opposite term that any thing inherent in man whether the gifts of grace Faith Repentance Charity c. or their fruits and works should be called our Gospel righteousnes I see no reason for it neither can devise in what other sense they may be so called but by a Catachresticall Ironia which names a thing and means the contrary As the Mounteins are called Montes quia minime movent Mounts or Movers because they do in no wise Move or as the Fames Auri is sometimes called sacra the inordinate desire of money is termed holy quia minime sacra sed prorsus execrabilis because it is in no case sacred but wholly accursed So in no other sense may this righteousnes in self be called Gospâ—l righteousnes in reference to Justification but because it is totally opposite to the doctrine and nature of the Gospel and because the Gospel doth wholly reject and abandon it Mr. Br. peradventure may and will bring other reasons and where he doth it we shall take pains to examine them 4 Why he calls beleeving or Faith to be our Gospel righteousnes and whether it be to any other end but with the Papists upon the same grounds to bring in good works to Justification also If he deny this the whole sequele of his Book will be an enditement of falshood against him CHAP. XIV That which Mr. Baxter brings to confirm the matter of this his Doctrine examined and found both fallacious and empty And what he addeth to mitigate the asperity viz. That we perform these conditions not by our own strength but by the grace of Christ evidenced to be a meer shift borrowed from the Papists Mr. Baxter after he hath thus made a flourish and nothing but a flourish to explain and defend his phrase and make odious the phrase of Scripture now proceedeth to confirm the matter of his doctrine Let us see whether there be any thing Logicall or Theologicall and not meerly sophisticall He hath confessed before p. 109. that some who are not Antinomians but Orthodox Divines have startled at the expressions of his 19 and 20 Positions as conteining in them some self-exalting horrid doctrine therefore will he say something thereto by way of explication and confirmation Now having said something as bad as nothing to take off contention about words what doth he add for the confirmation of the matter of his doctrine He was to have proved 1 That Gospel righteousnes or the righteousnes of the New Covenant consisteth not in the imputation of the righteousnes which is by Christ to us but in our own actuall and personall faith and obedience 2 That we must be righteous in our selves first and then after be made righteous by Christ 3 That the righteousnes of the New Covenant is not sufficient to justifie and save but onely to give us right to the righteousnes of the old Covenant which doth actually and immediately save and justifie 4 That those gifts of grace vertues and endowments that are required to our sanctification are not the fruits but the causes of our justification and conditions of our interest in Christ and consequently that our sanctification hath a priority and goes before justification These were the points in which he acknowledgeth himself to be down-right opposed by some and startled at by others What doth he now say for the silencing of these down-right opposers and startlers Just so much as he that would confute all that Bellarmine had written in three words viz. Bellarmine thou liest Or what brings he for the confirmation of those his assertions wherein he is so opposed Nothing but a fardle of sophisticall fallacies consisting of begged principles and homonymies of words First he clustereth together many Conclusions without either premisses or proofs The righteousnesse of the New Covenant then being the performance of its conditions this is his first Conclusion which by the word then bearing the force of therefore he would insinuate to lean upon some foregoing premisses when contrariwise there is not so much as a peble of four grains to sustein it not a word laid as the foundation thereof It is the thing in question we deny it he brings nothing to confirm it besides his bare affirmation which to us is no more then a pillar of straw to bear up a Castle And its conditions being our obeying the Gospel or believing This is his second Conclusion taken as granted when contrariwise his opposers utterly deny it And here he plaies also with an homonymy of words as if faith and obeying the Gospel which in the Apostles sense are so in his sense also were the same thing covering his poyson untill the feat be done by it It must needs be plain that on no other terms do we partake of the legall righteousnes of Christ I will not say that self-confidence hath made the man mad but rather that he thinks all the world mad and in such a sottish slumber that none can
put a difference betwixt mid-day and mid-night It is plain by what light by what argument It is the thing in question and none untill Mr. Br. ever held forth this assertion in these his expressions Yet it must be plain viz. because he hath said it so plain as a New world created in Mr. Br. fist he that can see what is not may see it We deny both the righteousnes which is by Christ to be a legall righteousnes and our own qualifications to be the terms and grounds upon which he is made to us Righteousnes And let the world judg whether he shew himself a Christian Teacher or an Antichristian Imposter who having promised a confirmation of his strange and before unheard of doctrine brings nothing but flourishes of words to charm fools not one argument or Scripture to satisfie the wise and conscientious Himself seeth the grosnes and palpablenes of his delusions and left his Reader should stay in his meditations upon it to see it also he hasteth to annex a fourth Conclusion very plausible to them whom he hopes to beguile wherupon as on a Cross he naileth the picture of an Antinomian to crucifie him that with this pleasant spectacle he may divert his Readers eyes from the nakednes and nothingnes of what went before to the beholding of a new object set before him To affirm therefore that our Evangelicall or New Covenant Righteousnes is in Christ and not in our selves or performed by Christ and not by our selves is such a monstrous piece of Antinomian Doctrine that no man c. ut supra Which is as much as if he had said to his Reader if upon the bare authority of my words when I have no one good Argument to prove them thou wilt not become a rank Papist I will register thee for an Antinomian and make thee out to the world such a Monster that all shall abhor thee as unsufferable With this Thunder-bolt he knows he shall shake into an Ague all those that Nicodemus-like are Disciples of Christ but secretly for fear of the Jewes Should they be suspected of the least tang of Antinomianism they should never more have a good look from the Scribes and Pharisees But he is not forth with an Antinomian whom Mr. B. so termeth If Pythagoras his transmigration of souls into new bodies were Canonicall I should conclude that the ghost of one of those ghostly Fathers of the Councell of Constance had crept into Mr. B. body They to make John Huss odious painted an ugly Devill in paper and crowned John Huss therewith when they carried him to the stake to be burned at the view whereof the people exulted in his death as if they had seen some Witch or rather young Devill burned So deals Mr. B. here with them which are truly Evangelical inures upon them the black brand of Antinomianism so to make truth in their mouth hatefull as well as the persons But is it decreed that they are all Antinomians that hold and that it is a monstrous piece of Antinomianism to hold that our Evangelicall or New Covenant righteousnes is in Christ not in our selves performed by Christ and not by our selves If so I much question whether there will be found any one save Mr. B. alone in all the Reformed Churches that are or have been but must bear the imputation of a monstrous Antinomian I will not be over confident of Socinus Arminius Grotius and their followers because I take them not for members but troublers of the Reformed Churches For my part I know no difference about this point between the Orthodâ—x and Antinomians Both consent 1 That our Gospel-righteousnes which worketh effectually to our Justification is in Christ not in our selves save by imputation 2 That our Gospel or New Covenanâ— righteousnes in reference to our sanctification is in Christ radically but in us by derivation and influence actually to sanctifie us 3 That our faith repentance obedience holines good works though flowing from Christ himself into us are the Gospel or New Covenant Righteousnes not by which we are justified but by which we are sanctified And let Mr. B. or any of his Disciples produce that Orthodox man that ever called this doctrine Antinomianism or that hath not shunned the contrary doctrine as Popish and Antichristian Yet Mr. B. finding himself bound by promise to prove many things as was said before that his fallacious dealing might not be too notorious and shamefull he chooseth one of the many leaving the rest untouched to speak something to it as he had said though not to prove it And in that which he saith there is nothing to confirm his own assertion but a meer reviling abusing abasing of them that assert the contrary under the false imputation of Antinomianism And here he comes upon the stage like Hercules Furens who in a Phrensie taking his Wife and Children to be a Lioness and her Whelps falls upon them fiercly with his Clubb and envenomed Arrows untill he had utterly destroyed them So Mr. B. in somewhat a like fit not finding reall Antinomians but making in his fancy imaginary Bug-bears and phantasms of them curseth them with Bell Book and Candle for saying that Christ hath fulfilled the conditions of the New as well as of the Old Covenant and that our Evangelical righteousnes is not in our selves but in Christ At the supposition of such assertions which none ever laid down in these terms the man is in a rage beats the wind and flings dust in the Aire cryeth Blasphemy heresie impiety and enumerates Absurdities upon absurdities arising from such doctrine all which I am not at leizure to transcribe it being all superfluous and not to the purpose but may be read at large pag. 111 112 113 of his Tractate More proper shall it be for me here to make out Mr. B. either willing or unwilling mistake herein and then all his absurdities will â—ither vanish into winde or return upon himself First then as we deny not Faith in the Lord Christ to be instrumentall to apprehend to our selves Christ for our justification and a declarative evidence to our own souls that we are actually justified by him as before hath been granted so we affirm it to be hereticall and popish doctrine which Mr. B. doth here pag. 111 deliver in asserting repentance obedience submission c. and afterward all other vertues and good works to be conditions of the New Covenant viz. by which as by our Gospel righteousnes we are and without which preceding we cannot be justified For all these in Mr. B. sense as Austin from the tenor of the Gospel saith Non precedunt justificandum sed sequuntur justificatum are not the precedents but fruits of justification 2 We affirm Repentance Obedience Charity c. and all good works which the Gospel requireth to be originally and materially the works and duties of the Law Nature and naturall conscience it self suggesting to every of us both the rest and withall in
evill is intended to them I shall give these few premunitions First that the question it self proposed by him is meerly captious If Faith be our Righteousness it self how is it said to be imputed to us for Righteousness as if Faith either as an act or duty or habit of Evangelical righteousness were imputed to us for and in stead of the perfect fulfilling of the righteousnes of the Law to Justification This he takes as granted whereas it is one cheif thing in question All the reformed Churches with their Teachers Pastors have unanimously denyed both that faith is our justifying righteousnes and that it is imputed to us for righteousnes otherwise then as it is instrumental to apprehend Christ to be our righteousness or the satisfaction which Christ hath made for us to be imputed to us for and instead of that righteousnes which consisteth in fulfilling the Law 2. As to the plain and positive answer which he makes to the question Though we grant what he saith of our unrighteousness Christs satisfaction and purchase of the prisoners yet in that which hee addeth of the covenant that hee makes with the prisoneâ—s so bought there is nothing but guilful ambiguity viz. that Whosoever will accept and belieâ—e in him who hath thus satisfied it shall be as effectual for their justification as if they had fulfilled the Law of Works themselves To the simple and upright man that is not acquainâ—â—d with Mr. Baxters subtilties this will seem as sound a Doctrine as if an Angel from heaven had delivered it But how wide is his meaning from that which his words seem to import 1 By faith he meanth not what he calls it An accepting of and beleeving in Christ as it is such an accepting and beleeving but as it is a qualification or act Comprehending in it all qualifications and good works besides as afterward he makes his meaning evident 2 When he calls it an accepting of and beleeving in him who hath thus satisfied he means not a beleeving and accepting of him onely under this notion as he hath satisfied that this shall suffice to Justification Nay our accepting him for our law giver and performing of all things that he Commandeth and Consequently all our obedience he will have to bear an equall part to Justification 3 When he saith whosoever thus accepteth and beleeveth doth he mean that this Faâ—th or beleeving is the alone Condition of the full justification of which he speaketh or upon whâ—ch alone Christ Covenanteth to justifie Nay he attributes no less to repentance Charity mercy holines every gift of the Spirit every work of the law to which we are moved by the Spirit and Called by the Gospel about their efficacy to Justification than to Faith it self Why doth he put off the Monkes Câ—wle and put on Pauls Cloke onely to deceive the simple for whom Christ hath dyed 4 When he saith It shall be as effectuall c. putting It next to the word satisfied and next to the Clause Him that hath satisfied there is the same ambiguity and falshood with that which I noted in the second place and whether he meaneth it faith or it satisfaction shall do the work 5 Where he saith It shall be as effectuall to Justification as if they had fulfilled the law of works themselves Here he utterly destroyeth the righteousness and satisfaction of Christ as any way imputed to Justification when elswhere he makes it equally necessary with the righteousness of Faith to Justification And thus he seems to leave the Papists which he would not do for a world I think which hold that we are justified both by Christs righteousness and our own righteousnes also and to joyn onely with the Socinians which hold that we are justified onely by faith imputed to us for righteousnes and not by the righteousness and satisfaction of Christ at all For if this beleeving be by the vertue of Christs Covenant as effectuall to Justification as our fulfilling of the law of works could have been then is there no need of any act or suffering or satisfaction of Christ to be imputed to us For whosoever shall fullfill the law shall have no need of a Mediator to justifie him Therefore neither he that so beleeveth c. But how hard is it for a man that oppugneth truth and propugneth error by meer fallacies against the light of his Conscience to keep himself free from Contradictions here he Contradicts what he had before said of Christ our righteousnes and in the application of the following similitude we shall find him in substance contradicting what he here saith Touching all those things which a little before I have affirmed his meaning to be so and so let none demand how I know what is in another mans heart himself in the following part of this Tractate fully discovers it as we shall finde by reading and examining it Neither will any question it but they that have not read him or in reading have not understood him Thus much to his plain answer before he discends to his similitude which he useth as sugar to lap roll it up in that it may go down pleasantly In this answer we finde nothing but words his own words not the least pittance of Gods word to authorize it he saith all and with the same facility we deny all Proceed we after him now to his similitude 3 As to his similitude first I except that Similitudines or rather Similia illustrant non probant Similitudes are of good use to illustrate and make Cleer to the understanding that which is before proved to be a truth but of no use to prove that which is unproved and the thing still in question That which Mr. Br hath before Concluded in his answer was that Faith is both the righteousnes it self by which we are justified and 2 that it is also imputed to us for and in stead of Justifying righteousnes viz. the very Gospel Righteousnes imputed for and in stead of the legall righteousnes He hath said it without any addittament of Scripture or reason to prove it so that his similitude here is brought to illustrate onely a phantasm of his own brain not any doctrine of Gods word 2 I except against the similitude it self as being in its matter and form altogether incongruous to illustrate the doctrine of justification by Faith which the Gospel holds forth to us because it hath besides other these following incongruities to it 1 Though as in the positive answer before we did so here we grant what he saith of the Tenants forfeiture unablenes to pay expulsion from the inheritance casting into prison his Landlords son paying the debt for him delivering him out of prison putting him into his house again as his Tenant having purchased the house and all to himself provided alway that all this be done by the will of the Father the first Landlord which Mr. Br doth not deny And though we pardon to Mr. Br upon Condition that
us with the leaven of the Papists He saw these 2 Theses which I have examined together viz. Perfection Merits of works if they should come together one in the neck of another without any Calm betwixt them would make so terrible a sound as would be enough to waken and startle all that were but sleeping and not dead for fear the Pope or the Devill had been come to assault them Therfore to keep all quiet he interposeth this Thesis and its explication in which he pulls the ears of our Divines for saying that God doth justifie first our persons and then our duties and actions pag. 134. deinceps in the explication telling us it is a doctrine of dangerous consequence many wayes and except we will take it in his that is in the Popish sense it smells rankly of Popery setts up Justification by works from the very thought whereof he starts startles away as affrighted Notable dissimulation not of a learner but of one learned in the Trade Clodius accusat Maechos Catilina Cethegum He that affirms our Righteousness equall with the righteousnes of Christ to justification that entitles it a perfect righteousnes a meritorious righteousnes is the first man in all the world that fears of the advancing of Justification by works by them whom he hateth for oppugning it If there were that which he calls danger in this phrase or doctrine of setting up such a justification would not himself be the first man to kisse it to eat it up to promote it What is it that makes him to disrelish the phrase so extremely is it not that it inverts his order in Justification that he would have the works to justifie the man when contrariwise this doctrine makes the justification of the person to be the ground of the acceptance of his obedience Is it not the very depth of Satan from which he is moved to guise disguise himself to act Satans part with all guile and subtlety to betray the Saints of Christ and the truth of Christ to damning Popery and yet here and there to transform himself into an Angel of Light a Minister of Righteousnes to blinde the eyes of the simple that they may not espy him untill they be taken in his snare and lost for ever As for the doctrine or phrase it self he knowes our Divines mean this onely when they say God doth justifie first our persons and then our duties actioÌ„s viz. That God having first justified their persons from all the guilt that was upon them doth thenceforth also justifie them in refâ—rence to all the duties which thorow Christ the Mediator they shall perform unto God not imputing to them the imperfections thereof so that they may rest Confident of Gods accepting both the performers and the performance in and through Christ the beloved In this respect and not as Conditions of the New Covenant as Mr. Br dreameth doth the Gospel teach our works to be accepted of God There is yet one link of the Popish Chain wanting without which it will be unperfect and unusefull If it were granted that there is 1 a personall righteousnes of Gods own appointment necessary to justification 2 That this righteousness consisteth in ouâ— own Faith and sanctification or good works 3 That it is a perfect and 4 a Meritorious Righteousness yet all this cannot be effectâ—all either to save or deceive us unless it be a righteousnes also possible for us to perform Thaâ— he may not be wanting therefore to the Popish Cause in any one branch of Popish doctrine he addeth this also Thesis 27 in these words pag. 141. Bax As it was possible for Adam to have fullfilled the Law of Works by that power which he received by Nature so is it possible for us to perform the Conditions of the New Covenant by the power which we receive from the Grace of Christ To which he adds in the Explication pag 142 c. Bax This possibility is to be understood not in Relation to the strength of the Agent But in the Relative sense the Conditions of the New Covenant are possible to them that have the assistance of Grace So that strength which was in Adam to fullfill was a power which he received by Nature But the strength by which we perform is the power which we receive from the grace of Christ If any should have asked him what that grace of Christ is the man was very Coy he could but he would not tell whether it were a Pauline or a Pâ—lagian Grace a grace equally extended both to the Elect and the Reprobats or a grace peculiar to the Elect a grace that comes no further than the ear or a grace operating upon the heart also c. He had other fish to fry and had not the leizure to stay câ—ack these nutts now He bids us to turn over many volumes and specially Parkers Theses to search if possibly we can finde what Mr. Brs judgment would be many years after in this poynt But it is easie to perceive the mans meaning by his gaping in many passages of this book We should have had all this in rank and file in his much promised Tractate of Vniversall Redemption by which as by a second famous atchievement he meant to endear himself to his holy Father but that unluckily there is one of his own spirit step into his Holinesses Parlour to present him with this gift and so anticipated this favour which Mr. Br would have had entire to himself so that now the expected advantage being lost he not using to open his Commodities to sale a day before the Fayr we might possibly for a couple of Capons obtein to know his meaning herein In the mean while it must needs be his intent in reserving to himself what he meant by grace to puâ— upon us a kind of impossibility to say readily yea or nay to his asserted pâ—ssibility of performing the Conditions of the New Covenant by a power which he leaves us uncertain of knowing what it is As for the two fold opposition which he puts in his Thesis 1. between the conditions of the Old Covenant New 2. Between the power which Adam had by nature and the power which we have by the Grace of Christ there is nothing but a windy sound of words therein to deceive his reader into an opinion that he hath some honest and sound meaning in what is here posited or said For neither doth he make any real difference between the conditions of these two Covenants but makes our own Righteousnesse consisting in faith and works to be the substance of the conditions of both Covenants onely he puts a supposed difference in the measure of them One an imaginary perfection of sincerity in doeing them answering to what the New Covenant requireth the other an absolute and gradual perfection in doing them without the least particle omitted or committed besides or against the rigorous exaction of the Old Covenant And this
then reviving him with the precious comforts of the Gospel to prescribe unto God the same method or to conclude the same to bee the method of God in his operations upon all in converting them The rending whirlwind doth not alway goe before the quickening beams of the Sun of Righteousness To the third if he mean that they taught that Justification by Faith in the Gospel promises might be sound and effectuall though no sanctification but all allowed impurity of life should follow the assertion and doctrine implies a contradiction for there can be no living Faith in the promises that is not fruitfull in good works And herein they declared themselves no lesse Anti-Gospellers then Antinomians But if hee meane that without all such extream horrors of the Law a man may be truly justified by Faith in Christ notwithstanding all his former loose and impure life and so the Publicans and Harlots enter into the Kingdome of God before the self-righteous Pharisees this is not Antinomistick except Pauls doctrine also be such Rom. 4. 5. 2. As for those opinions charged in these latter times with Antinomianism by many the 1 2 and last cannot be excused Onely to give the Assertors their due whatsoever of doctrinal truths to be beleeved or of Moral duties to be practised are expressed both in the Old and New Testament they were conscientious to submit themselves thereunto yet not for the authority of the Law or Old Testament but of the New only The third can bee justly charged with Antinomianism no farther then as either the Maintainers of it were in other points Antinomists or in respect of the foundation which they laid to maintain it which was the abrogation of the Law and old Testament The Law of the Sabbath being one part therof which must stand or sink with the rest But as they denyed the lawfulness of all discrimination or difference of daies by way of Morall or Ecclesiastical or Apostolical order for the more orderly and profitable celebration of publick Assemblies and the ordinances of Christ in publick Communion calling it Will-worship and Superstition This error they drew from the Petrobusians and Anabaptists not from the Antinomians that had been before them As to other questions about the authority of the Sabbath first now of the Lords day what relation they have either to other whether the observation of them be of Natural or Positive right If of Moral and Natural right by what express authority it is altered from the last to the first day of the week If of Positive right whether it began from the Creation or from the Law given upon Mount Sinai Whether the fourth Commandement hath any thing in it Typical now vanished in Christ Or whether wholly Moral and binding for ever how far it did or did not bind precisely to a day not this day of 7 Whether it were of Moral Righteousnes or else only of Moral order Whether the holyness of the 7th be now wholly translated upon the first day of the week By what authority the observation of the seventh day ceased and of the first day of the week was instituted to succeed Whether by virtue of Christs Resurrection or by some express command of Christ and where that command is to bee found Or else by Apostolical appointment And then whether in respect of order or of the aforegoing authority of Gods Commandement about the Sabbath or else by the appointment and consent of the Churches in or after the Apostles times These and many other the like questions Mr. Baxter knoweth to have been in agitation between both the greater and the lesser Divines and Members of the Reformed Churches adhuc sub judice Lis est Onely some within the Church of England ever since a Tractate came forth upon this subject from one Dr. Bownd Anno Christi 1595. seem to fix the observation of the Lords day upon more strict grounds and to bind it to more precise termes then the other Reformed Churches beyond the seas admit or many of the solid Divines have approved But of this there is no proper occasion here given to dispute This assertion therefore any further then hath been specified I doubt not but Mr. Baxter himself will discharge of Antinomianism The 5. 7. Mr. Baxter himself will not have to be ranked among Antinomian errors confessing the former to be the judgement of many learned and godly Divines of singular esteem in the Church of God pag. 53. Ap. pag. 12. The latter hee pronounceth to be the Common Judgement viz. of Churches and Divines therefore of ignorance accused of Antinomianism pag. 68 of his Aphorisms The fourth gives us cause to accuse them of some audaciousnes in teaching the Holy Ghost to speake and pertinaciousness in binding themselves to phrases and words even to the declining of the language of the Holy Ghost in Scriptures To be justified by Faith and to bee justified by Christ or our being found in Christ being ever both in Canonical and Ecclesiastical Writings taken as Equipollent terms until in these few last years Mr. Bax. and some of his fellows irradiated from Rome and by the doctrine of Socinus and Arminius have broached another a new and unheard of interpretation of the phrases For whether we say we are justified by Faith wee were formerly understood to affirm our Justification by Christ to whom our Faith hath united us or by Christ it was understood by Christ apprehended by faith Neither manner of Locution therefore was to be rejected as opposing the other The sixth I take to be a fancy if they understand Gods seeing and knowing in generall without restriction troubling the brains of men with a strife about words without substance God seeth no sin unpardoned upon his people we acknowledge In reference to Judgement and Vengeance hee hath seen them all upon Christ and punished them upon Christ so that he no more sees sinne in beleevers to take vengeance of them for it But it were our loss and misery if God should not at all and simply see sinne in us How then should he purge it from us and us from it He is the Husbandman of his Vineyard sees and cuts out every canker from his Vines seeth and pareth off every unprofitable sprigg from the branches by meanes whereof fruitfullnesse followeth where else there must ensue barrennesse and rottennesse Some Divines therefore thus distinguish that Gods seeing of sin may be considered as either in Articulo providentiae so he seeth all sinns of all men alike to dispose of them to his glory or in Articulo Iustificationis so he seeth the sinnes onely of the unjustified Ier. 18. 23. Forget not their iniquity neither blot out their sin from thy sight but the sinnes of the justified are forgotten and blotted out of his remembrance and sight as the constant phrase of Scripture affirmeth no more to be imputed If they mean onely in this latter sense they erre not By that which hath been
in his disobedience we all sinned and were condemned in him So also Christ the second Adam in making satisfaction to Gods justice upon the cross sustained the office of a publick person stood in the room of all the Elect bare their sins as imputed to him so that they all in him did their law were in him crucified dead and buried and suffered the paines of hell it self And as he was a publick person in his suffering so also was he in his resurrection having paid the utmost farthing of our debt he rose to receive a full acquittance or justification in his own and our names for all the sinnes for which and all the vengeance which he had suffered for us and we in him The justification and acquittance then given him and to us in his name by the Father is that which out of doubt Mr. Baxter calls Christs own justification yet was not his own so but that it was every elect persons in him Having the meaning of the phrase let us now enquire into the truth or falshood of the Position The Justification saith hee which we have in Christs own Justification is but conditional as to the particular offenders and none can lay claim to it till hee have performed the conditions nor shall any be personally justified till then Even the Elect c. Hee saith much and audaciously as all may see but how strongly doth hee prove it For confirmation saith hee in the Explic. there is enough said under the 15 18 19 20 Positions before And I answer how valid and pertinent to his purpose that Enough which hee there said is I there examined And because he brings here no new reasons I may justly passe it by without giving any further answer Onely it shall not bee impertinent to take notice how ambiguously hee layes downe every clause of this Position to corrupt with an evill sense whom hee can and to evade with the pretext of a good meaning where he cannot deceive if espied and questioned 1. When he saith this Justification is conditional as to the particular offenders none can lay claim c. Though by the whole frame of this his Treatise it is enough evident that he means what he speaks in the worst sense yet his words leave it here doubtful whether he means that our Justification which we have in Christs justification be conditional as Christ hath received it in his or our names or as he having received it for us doth offer it to particular offendors upon conditions upon the performance whereof they shall have it with the fruit and comfort thereof declared and evidenced to their own soules Though the former bee his sense yet knowing with what arguments hee may be encountred That there was an absolute and not a conditional payment made to which not a conditional but an absolute discharge is due That Christ as a publick person standing in our stead received the same justification for himselfe and us from all the sinnes that had been imputed both to him and us but that he received for himself not a conditional but an absolute Justification therefore for us also That if particular offendors be but conditionally justified in Christ then are they not at all actually and really justified in Christ and so the fruit of Christs death being suspended upon conditions may be none at all in case none performe the conditions That it is against the stream of the Gospel which affirms that even upon the cross he hath cancelled or blotted out the hand-writing spoiled the principalities and powers Col. 2. 14 15. redeemed us from the curse of the Law Gal. 3. 13. purged the conscience from dead works by his blood Heb. 9. 13 14. That God was in Christ reconciling the world while the world to himself 2 Cor. 5. 19. and made us accepted in the beloved Eph. 1. 6. And all this before we had a being personally therefore before we performed any conditions Knowing I say how he might be overwhelmed with arguments from the Scriptures by our Divines as hee hath read far more copiously then I have time here to particularize in their works against the Papists and Arminians and might have been more pressed and multiplyed against himself and that Truth is not onely unconquerable but victorious To prevent the inconvenience he leaves a hole by which to escape viz. Hee meant not thus But that our Justification is conditional as to our claim of right therein we are not personally justified have not our forgiveness declared and evidenced to our own consciences till we perform the conditions Such sincerity and integrity is there in Mr. Baxters doctrines 2. When he saith None can lay claim to Justification untill he have performed the conditions nor shall be personally justified till then he leaves it ambiguous whether he mean till his faith obedience and good works which with him are the conditions be in fieri or else in factum esse be begun or else finished and perfected in doing or else fully done His phrase directly points out the latter the whole stream of his disputations in this Book concurs with it Neither is Mr. Baxter such an A B C darian that he need to bee taught to speak Grammatically and to deliver in proper termes his own dictates that we should think him to speak more or lesse then he meaneth saving when he will doe so for his own advantage Unlesse therefore he meant in the latter sense and would be so understood hee would give no advantage by his words to any so to understand him This being then his meaning he leaves us yet in doubt whether he joynes with the Papists here in implying that it is possible to attain perfection of righteousness and so to have fully performed all obedience in this life thereby meriting Justification so winning it at the hardest before he wear it as we have found him in and under his 23 24 26 27 Theses maintaining enough fully behind the curtaine or else with the Arminians in holding that no man is justified in this life and so confounding Justification and Glorification either with the other an assertion worse then Popish wholly contradicting the whole â—enor of the Gospel as Rom. 4. 10. Abraham was justified while yet uncircumcised Rom. 5. being now justified now reconciled ver 9 10. So Rom. 8. 30. Eph. 1. 7. Yea not to stay particularizing the whole sum of the Gospel but because both Papists and Arminians are his cabinet friends that he might please both and offend neither it sufficeth him to shew himself an adversary to the truth wherein he hath them both confederates with him and either with the other it being no difficulty for him to close with both that differ but in words a little but are one in substance like Sampsons Foxes hung together by the tails in a firebrand though their faces look several waies 3. I might no less discover his subtilty in that ambiguous term of Personal Justification as he
Christ hath purchased onely and we receive onely an universal conditional Justification 3. Upon as good grounds as Mr. Baxter doth in the ensuing part of this Treatise argue from salvation or glorification to justification might I also argue from justification to salvation that if justification be universally conditionall so is salvation or glorification also that if one then both run upon these terms dum bene se gesserit if he beleeve and obey he shall be justifyed and glorifyed if not neither shall be his protion And when any is justifyed and glorifyed his perseverance in that state depends upon his freewill runs upon the same condition still so long justifyed and glorifyed as he is willing and obedient if he cease to obey he shall be unjustifyed and unglorifyed again And thus all the fruits of Christs death shall be rolled to nothing and Christ righteosunesse and glory shall be a conditionall and mutable righteousnesse and glory to day in splendor to morrow in darknesse and himself become a conditionall Saviour a conditionall King at one time compleat and sitting among his golden Candlesticks in the midst of his glorious Temple at another unchristed unkinged a head without a body and members a Saviour of nobodies a King without subjects some not at all submitting to his golden scepter the rest that have submitted revolting from him some from the kingdome of grace some from the kingdome of glory as Adam from Paradise the Angels from heaven so that he shall be left alone and his sufferings and merits lose all their fruit by means of this conditionall justification There is I confesse no weight in this Argument as to the truly Orthodox But it holds as firme to Mr. Baxter as his Arguments can hold to us about conditionall justification in Christs justification If he object that the Saints in the kingdome of glory shall be so confirmed that they shall not fall away I shall answer so are the Saints also in the kingdome of grace and are as absolutely fixed therein upon the truth love and power of God in Christ as the triumphant Saints in the kingdome of glory I doubt not to prove the one as soundly as he can prove the other I cease further to enlarge my self in Arguments to this purpose That which I have said being as I before mentioned spoken not so much to prove an absolute and to shew the vanity of a conditionall justification by Christ as to make way to that which comes after to be handled From the 45 then I passe to the 55 Thesis of Mr. Baxter because whatsoever there is in the interposed positions worthy of examination either hath been or will come to be considered in a place more convenient Only by the way we shall take a short view of what he hath in and under the 54 Thesis it runnes thus pag. 209. B. Remissian Justification and Reconciliation do but restore the offender into the same state of freedome and favour that he fell from but adoption and marriage union with Christ do advance him far higher Here Mr. Baxter gives me occasion to put up some Quaeries to him 1. Whether remission justification and reconciliation are equipollent termes signifying one and the same thing in substance or so many distinct things differing each from other as well in sense as in sound If differing things wherein doth the difference consist he answers in the explication B. The freedome from obligation to punishment is called Remission the freedome from accusation and condemnation is called Justification and the freedome from enmity and displeasure is called Reconciliation These are all at once but he saith not all one Excellently distinguished as he that divided the word malt into four parts But doth not every of these words imply all those freedomes doth not remission free as well from accusation condemnation and enmity as from obligation to punishment And doth not reconciliation free from obligation to punishment and from condemnation as well as from enmity and displeasure And doth not justification likewise do all as well as one I know no absurdity to assert that the same freedome is in divers respects but in the same sense as Amesius well expresseth called by all Ames Med. lib. 1. cap. 27. §. 22. these names As the state of sin from which we are freed is considered as a state of subjection to punishment or vengeance so this freedome is called Remission As the same state is considered as enmity against God so is it called Reconciliation As the same state is considered as a state of sin and condemnation so the same freedome from it is called Justification and this also so that justification is all these remission all and reconciliation all and neither any thing effectually if it be not all All together make up one act of God by his Gospell and may as I conceive more properly be called Gods act or acts in their active sense then concomitant consequents of one and the same act of God Besides if he take them for three differing things I would aske him whether there be any mysterie in the order wherein he placeth them Whether first we have remission of sins then justificaon from condemnation and then at last reconciliation I speak of priority and posteriority in order notin time for so he saith they are concomitants and at once If some such mystery I would be enformed whether by reconciliation he mean the reconciling of our love to God or of Gods love to us if the former how can our love as he teacheth be a condition of justification if in order it be not before but after justification if the latter then it seems Gods love is not the cause of our justification seeing it doth in order follow it but that our love to God is the cause and ground of it Or if he put these three as Synonyma's for one and the same thing why doth he then so curiously distinguish and as it were give to them their severall differencing forms as we find him to do 2 Whether he take them for the same or divers things I enquire whether they be antecedents or consequents of our union with Christ If antecedents whether it be possible for a man to be justifyed in the way of the new Covenant for of this justification Mr. Baxter speaketh being yet out of Christ or how is he then justifyed by faith charity and good works except it be by a legall faith charity and works and if legall how are these then our Gospell righteousnesse or have they Gospell righteousnesse which are not in Christ Or if consequents of our union with Christ whether then they do not presuppose our union with Christ and if so whether the justifyed in Christ are not advanced to a far higher state of freedome and honour by their being found righteous in Christ then they lost by being found sinners in Adam and whether their union with Christ be not the common foundation both of justification and
adoption Or lastly is his meaning that our union with Christ is the foundation not only of remission justification and reconciliation which do restore the offender into the same state of freedome and favor which we had lost and faln from but also of Adoption and of a far higher advancement then that from which he fell herein I shall not dissent from him But why then doth he so transpose his words as to make the stream of Gods operations to run backward if not to make mans qualifications the ground of his union with Christ his faith and good works by which he is justifyed to be if not the cause yet the antecedent of this union and not this union to be the cause or antecedent of his both justification and holinesse So much I thought fit to interpose here that this Thesis of Mr. Baxter might not serve as a bridge to carry over the reader captive unto some fallacious untruths in the after-part of this his Tractate contained Hence now let us passe to the 55 Thesis which hath not a totall disagreement with the former that have been examined in this Chapter but a dependence upon them B. Thesis 55. p. 211. Before it be committed it is no sin and where there is no sin the penalty is not due and where it is not due it cannot properly be forgiven therefore sin is not forgiven before it be committed though the grounds of certain remission be laid before The strength and evidence of this reasoning will the better appear if we lay by it another to the same tune and upon the same terms It cannot be denyed to be as good an argumentation as this if I should thus argue Before it be committed it is no sin and where there is no sin there is no penalty due and where it is not due it cannot properly be required therefore the sins that have been committed since the death of Christ had not their penalty born by Christ before they were committed and consequently Gods justice remains unsatisfyed for the sins of all that have been committed since the death of Christ and every offender is to bear the condemnation of them in his own bosome though the grounds of certain remission were laid before in God except another Christ be sent from heaven to bear or the same Christ again to bear the penalty of the sins after they are committed Whether this argumentation doth not carry in it as great if not greater likelihood of reason then Mr. Baxters I leave to every rationall man to judge And thus when a proud lust possesseth us to reason from our own brain and not from Gods word we easily reason our selves into hell Neither do I see how Mr. Baxter according to this reasoning can ever look to be justifyed or saved except by one of these two wayes either by asserting his own righteousnesse which hitherto with his fellowes he hath made but a collaterall with the righteousnesse of Christ to justifie and save to be at a pinch all-sufficient and effectuall to perfect the work without Christ as it is with partners in a Trade and buying and selling of wares what one doth both do and what bargain one makes both must stand to it Or else by canonizing the Popish masse to offer therein Christ often unto God as a sacrifice for the expiation and forgivenesse of his sins when he hath committed them sith Christs offering himself was in no wise the bearing of the penalty or satisfying of Gods justice for his or our sins because not then committed But let us see whether in any sense the reasoning of Mr. Baxter here may be made good or taken up as tolerable Not to mention here Gods forgiving of sins as an act immanent in God from eternity For this would but make Mr. Baxter startle he is no more patient to hear this voice then was Caligula at the voice of Thunder his bloud riseth at it as do theirs at the sight of a Cat whose natures have an antipathy to that poor creature that never meant them hurt Let us consider forgivenesse and pardon in tearms and wayes as himself granteth a possibility of giving and receiving it And First in foro conscientiae at the bar of God in the conscience of man to which he most limiteth and contracteth remission and justification May not the offender apprehend and apply to himself the pardon of his future as well as of his past and present sins through the Lord Christ in some sense 1. In respect of the seed of all the sins which he shall through infirmity commit in the time to come of his life I mean his corrupt nature or originall defilement and sin from which as from their naturall source all their acts of sin spring every true beleever is and may apprehend himself pardoned this the very Papists acknowledge denying originall sin and defectivenesse to have any mortality of sin in it because the guilt thereof is purged from the soul by the bloud of Christ at his very first admission and entrance into Christ as they say In this respect I doubt not but Mr. Baxter will confesse that all their after acts of sin are remitted in their seed and womb to beleevers before they be committed 2. In respect of Gods not imputing them to the person that shall offend so the sins not yet committed are forgiven to every elect person God hath laid on Christs score all the sins of the elect committed or to be committed and satisfyed his justice for them upon Christ who in their names hath paid the penalty of all therefore their consciences are discharged neither sins past nor sins to come shall be any more imputed to them There is no condemnation to them that are in Christ Jesus Rom. 8. 1. There is dayly new sinning why not also subjection to condemnation because the person being in Christ though subject to a necessity of sinning yet through the justification of his person is exempted from the further imputation of sin so committed unto condemnation He that beleeveth hath everlasting life and shall not come into condemnation Joh. 5. 24. He comes dayly into the acting of new sins how is it that he comes not into a subjection and obligation to condemnation by those sins but because they were forgiven to the offender before therefore not imputed to him when committed It is one chief priviledge of the new Covenant Their sins and iniquities will I remember no more Now where remission of these is there is no more offering for sin Jer. 31. 38. c. Heb. 10. 17 18. speaks the holy Ghost here only of sin past and not of those to come that they which are within the new Covenant have remission of them then 1. The same person hath some sins forgiven and some not forgiven by Christ that which is past is remitted that which is to come is retained 2. Then the priviledge is no priviledge if only sins past are not remembred but sins to come are
to melt out his mercy in justifying us How then was he in Christ reconciling the world to himself before all such actuall intercession and prayers 2 Cor. 5. 19. 6. The like might I say of his objective and occasionall causes that objects and occasions have their being and qualifications from Gods either directive or promissive providence that they may serve to his eternall and absolute volsitions and purposes not that they work any new thing in the will and purposes of God for then like the Masse-priests should they be the creators of their Creator 4. To his second Question Why he cals Christs satisfaction both the Meritorious cause and the Causa sine qua non If he had not I should not have made it a question But because he delighteth both to put the question and to answer it I shall not permit his answer wholly to passe without a short reply B. Pag. 215. That it is the Meritorious cause I know few but Socinians that will deny He must needs mean few Baxterians that are not also Socinians i. e. few of them that with him deny justification to be an eternall immanent act in God For Mr. Baxter himself whether he be or be not a Socinian will and must grant that if justification be and as far as it is an eternall immanent act in God Christs satisfaction neither is nor can be the Meritorious cause thereof But as we look to the justification as in time applyed and declared to the soul and conscience which Mr. Baxter calleth the justification of the new Covenant and the Scriptures justification by faith of this justification I will not contend with him but Christs satisfaction though no where in the word totidem verbis so termed yet may enough properly be termed the Meritorious cause But why he will also have it called the Causa sine qua non a blinde man may easily see his reason what else doth he drive at but to put it in the same order of Causality with faith and good works which also in the whole sequele of this Treatise is with him the Causa sine qua non and consequently to make Christs sufferings and mans qualifications collaterall causes of Justification Hereunto pertaineth his extolling the cause sine qua non and exalting the praise thereof above other causes Pag. 216 217. not so much to attribute it to Christs satisfaction as preparatively to deifie and equalize with Christ the meritorious perfection of mans righteousnesse which he is bringing in as a rivall of Christ for the honor of justification and herein he will rather turn Cynick then leave the praise of man in his justification any one inch beneath the praise of Christ For hereunto pertaines his Quare me non laudas qui dignus sum ut accipiam Plus enim est meruisse quam dedisse beneficium If God be to be praised for giving justification why not I that am worthy to receive it for it is more honourable to have deserved then to have given a Benefit How well this agreeth with that which he hath in and under his 24 26 27. Theses I leave the Reader to consider and how fully he speaks it out in the following doctrine of this book we shall see more fully afterward Yea when he here puts Christs satisfaction in the same kind of causality with faith and works which he here cals the Causa sine qua non elsewhere the conditions of justification and Thesis 62. pronounceth faith to be the principall and works the lesse principall condition what place doth he leave for Christs satisfaction but to be a footstool to our faith and works Ob. Yes he reserves the entire praise of merit still to Christs satisfaction alone Answ Not so for though in words he sometimes asserteth Christs satisfaction to be the merit of our justification yet he makes the worthinesse of our own righteousnesse to be that which makes both Christs merit and justification merited to be ours and so we out-merit Christ deserving not only justification but Christ the meriter and the merit of Christ to be made ours In this he is worse then the Papists They give the praise of our mâ—rit to Christ he hath merited saith they a power â—o our works to merit This man contrariwise that neither Christs merits nor justification the fruit of it becomes ours untill we by our merits and worthinesse have put our selves into the possession of it so according to the Papists the efficacy of mans merits depends upon Christs merits according to Mr. Baxter the efficacy of Christs merits as to this or that justifyed person depends upon a mans own merits as in the fore quoted Thesis he manifesteth himself Let all men judge whether his ambition bends not to be more then an approver even an eminent improver of Popery 5. To his third question somewhat also In the Thesis where he gives us the order of the causes of justification to set up his own not Gods justification he saith B. Materiall cause properly it hath none if you will improperly call Christs satisfaction the remote matter I contend not And in the explication pa. 214. against what he had said in the Thesis he supposeth it will be questioned B. 3. Why he makes not Christs righteousnesse the Materiall cause And pag. 217. He thus answers the question B. Christs righteousnesse cannot be the materiall cause of an act which hath no matter If any will call Christs righteousnesse the matter of our righteousnesse though yet they speak unproperly yet far neerer the truth then to call it the matter of our justification We have here as elsewhere a Momus among the Gods a curious and carping Critick against not only Ecclesiasticall but Canonicall writings also no farther owning what they speak then as they speak it in a dialecticall dialect so setting Aristotle above Christ and weighing all the sentences of the Gospell in the scales of Logicall terms and maxims and Socinus-like submitting all the truths of the Gospell to reason yea to the rules of Aristotles logick or reason Justification is an act saith he and there is no matter of an act ergo it hath no materiall cause Christ therefore and his Apostles yea all the Doctors of the Church that speak after the Scriptures are dunces delivering a vain Theologie not truely Theologicall because not after the Peripateticks precepts totally Logicall But what law of Medes and Persians can binde the holy Ghost never to mention justification but strictly under the consideraration of an act Will Mr. Baxter deny it sometimes to be used in a passive sense Or what he saith of faith Thesis 62. may it not more truly be affirmed of justification That as a whole Country oft takes it name from the chief City so may all the privileges and benefits of the Gospell from justification so that when it is named all the rest are implyed and named under it The thing in question I acknowledge Mr. Baxter granting what he grants is
or between the not accusing or condemning of a man and the not imputing any thing to him to his accusation and condemnation CHAP. XXV Arg. of the Causa sine qua non or the condition or the instrumentall cause and whether faith be the instrument And in what sense it is so The absurdities wherewith Mr. Baxter chargeth this doctrine removed and those that follow his doctrine in part particularized TO the first Question we must apply our selves somewhat more fully because in answer to the former Questions Mr. Baxter seems to me to have aimed chiefly to the ostentation of his wit and Logicall both acutenesse and profoundnesse to make himself thereby admired and formidable But in answering this and the next he collects in one all his subtilty and Sophistry â—o beguile and deceive if it were possible the very Elect. And indeed if he carry these two Questions in captivity to his own sense and purpose he shall thereby make at least a seeming way by which to introduce all his Popish soul-subverting errours about justification which follow and hang as at the tayle of these Questions His words in the Thesis are B. The Causa sine qua non is both Christs satisfaction and the faith of the justifyed As much as he thought would be objected against his putting Christs satisfaction in the same place and degree of causality as a collaterall with faith he hath spoken to in his answer to the second Question and the firmnesse of this his answer hath been there examined But what concernes faith that which he thinks he shall be opposed in he formes into two Questions Explication pa. 214. 1. Why he makes it not the Instrumentall cause 2. Why he makes it the Causa sine qua non The former which is his 5. Question he applies himself to answer pa. 219. in these words B. To the fift Question perhaps I shall be blamed as singular from all men in denying faith to be the instrument of our justification But affectation of singularity leads me not to it 1. If faith be an instrument it is the instrument of God or man Not of man for man is not the principall efficient he doth not justifie himself 2. Not of God for 1. It is not God that beleeveth though it 's true he is the first cause of all actions 2. Man is the causa secunda between God and the action and so still man should be said to justifie himself 3. For as Aquinas the action of the principall cause and of the instrument is one action and who dares say that faith is so Gods instrument 4. The instrument must have influx tâ— the producing of the effect of the principall cause by a proper causality and who dare say that faith hath such an influx into our justification Here I know not whether we have more of the subtle serpent or of the roaring Lyon 1. He useth his winding Sophistry to intangle 2. His daring threats to them that being not intangled will be so bold as to contradict him Let us examine what efficacy there is in either or both these and first in his Sophistry To insinuate or as the Apostle saith to creep into the hearts of his Readers to deceive them he tels us Perhaps he may be blamed as singular from all men in denying faith to be the instrument of justification It seems he doubted that some of his Readers for lack of acquaintance with many Authours upon this subject would not or could not take notice that it is a new doctrine which he here delivereth and so he should be robbed of the glory of his new invention That the praise thereof might therefore wholly redound to him he tels them he is the first of men that ever saw and taught Faith not to be the instrument of justification that herein he is singular from all men Bâ—t had he not rubbed his forehead that with open face he thus vindicateth to himself that which he hath received from the Priests and Jesuites Let him name himself singular and abhorrent from all Protestants yea from Christ and his Apostles not from all men he is singular and alone in this and most his assertions from the Orthodox from whom but holds it in common with the whole herd of Antichrist to whom he is fallen Doth not Bellarmine deny that faith can truly be said to justifie us except it doth obtain and in some sort merit Justification from God Do not all his brethren with one voice shake off the instrumentall causality of justification and make it as a perfect quality or good work to merit it A two fold subtlety yea falshood is there to be found therefore in this his insinuation 1. That he affirmes himself singular in this point to catch after an usurped praise to himself as if he had seen what none in the world before him had seen 2. In pretending it to be a new doctrine thereby to draw disciples after him in a time wherein the ears of men itch after new in disdain of sound and true doctrines But further to insinuate he tels us that affectation of singularity leads him not to it We beleeve him without oath or protestation It is not the desire of them that are of his hair to trudge single but accompanied with a whole Brigade of disciple under their conducting and seducing unto Rome But let us come to his Arguments B. If faith be an instrument it is the instrument of God or Man But of neither of these Ergo not at all an instrument His Proposition or Major we grant him And it were enough and full to that which can be expected to refell his reasons which he brings for the proof of the minor Yet because my drift is not so much to answer him as to stablish some weak and unwary Christians against his impostures I shall endeavour first to confirm what he denyeth and seeks to shiver and then to examine the strength of reason which he brings against us When he saith in the Minor that faith is the instrument neither of God nor Man in justification What if I should undertake to prove and defend it to be the instrument of both He speaketh here of Justification as taken Passively declared to and termined upon the conscience For if we should mention justification as taken meerly Actively for that internall eternall and immanent act in God not transient upon an extraneous subject but hid in God before the world was or any justifyed or unjustifyed persons began to live or be Mr. Baxter would be ready to deal with us as did the Jewes with Steven Act. 7. 57. stop his ears and cry out against us with a loud voice Blasphemy blasphemy Yet in this sense we acknowledge that saith is neither Gods nor Mans instument of justification But in that sense which alone Mr. Baxter here taketh justification for that gracious act of God by which he dischargeth for Christs sake the sinner from condemnation by vertue of the new
he hath out of Schiblers Mâ—taphysicks sound enough I acknowledge as Schibler proposeth it in Thesi but fallacious and misapplyed by this man to his Hypothesis Yet what ever it be though not the least portion of Gods word in it let us examine the strength of it It is the principall efficient of the act or effect that worketh by the instrument saith he but man is not the principall efficient therefore worketh not in this businesse by instruments or instrumentall helps I answer 1. not only in resevence to this but to that which also followeth in his Argumentation We are to distinguish between instruments that they are of two kinds effective or receptive Effective so is a knife the instrument of cutting Receptive so is the hand the instrument of receiving Mr. Baxters Arguments are applyed to the former only not at all to the latter For 1. Of an Effective instument it may be said the knife cuts and the Man cuts likewise But a Receptive instrument hath a double relation 1. To the giver 2. To the receiver As if a rich man give a great treasure to a poor man he receiveth it in his hand the receptive instrument of the poor mans inriching is his hand Now if a man should argue as Mr. Baxter doth the hand if it be an instrument it is an instrument either of the giver or receiver not of the receiver for he doth not inrich himself he is not the principall agent inriching not of the giver for he doth not receive any riches but the act of the hand is to receive therefore the instrument of neither nor at all an instrument Who sees not the vanity of such an Argument Yet such is this paralogism of Mr. Baxter I say therefore that the Canons of an instrument which he citeth out of Aquinas and Schibler hold only of effective not of receptive instruments Yet as faith is Gods effective instrument to justifie man and not himself as Mr. Baxter trifleth so these Canons hold of it also in the sense before specifyed 2. I deny the Assumption or Minor he proves it thus Man doth not justifie himself This is an equivocation and besides the question None ever made man the causa prima of his justification none I mean of all those whom Mr. Baxters disputes against Himself indeed and his followers asserting the perfection and merit of mans righteousnesse consisting in faith and good works and affirming that this righteousnesse of man and in man doth give him title to the righteousnesse which is by Christ cannot well be cleared from making man the first tause of his justification But we speak nothing tending to this purpose and in no other sense do we say that man acteth to his justification but by this apprehending and applying to himself the justification of God And in this respect man is not only the principall but also the sole efficient of apprehending or receiving Christ to justification and faith his alone receptive instrument therein by the instrumentall subsurviency of his faith in receiving Christ We make it not mans instrument of Christs satisfaction or of Gods acceptation or of his declaring but only of our applying it to our soules That it is not Gods instrument he hath these reasons to prove B. 2. Not of God for 1. It is not God that beleeveth though it 's true he is the first cause of all actions A meer bull with which he jeers and scoffes not only at all the Protestant Divines but also at Christ and his Apostles as poor sorry animals and asses unworthy to be answered with reasons but with absurd non-sense 1. Faith in one was never used or ordained to be an instrument of justifying another much lesse faith in God to justifie man 2. He can conclude nothing else hence but this God beleeveth not therefore God is not justifyed or discharged from condemnation by the new Covenant 3. He doth in the Magisteriall confidence of his heart implicitely accuse Christ his Apostles and faithfull Teachers in his Church to hold that God is the instrument of our justification that the Principall agent and the instrument are the same thing that the instrument must be in the Agent or cannot be his instrument so that faith must be Gâ—d himself for whatsoever is in God is God himself the immanent acts of God are Gods acting These are all but slanderings of the Lords servants to make odious the doctrine which they deliver 4. We make faith in man not in God Gods effective instrument which he infundendo creat creando infundit and having wrought it in the soul he doth put it also in acting thereby to evidence to man his justification As some great and munificent Lord having laid up a great treasure for one of his poorest and most abject servant in some secret place tels him first what he hath done bestowes it fully and freely upon him but the servant not finding it is never the richer because he hath not the possession of it At length the Lord lights a torch guides his servant to the secret place and by the light of the torch shewes him the treasure which before in the minde and purpose of the doner was wholly his bids him to see and possesse Here the torch is that Lords instrument by which he discovered to his servant the treasure and evidenced him to be indeed enriched So and much more compleatly is faith Gods instrument by which he justifies us to our selves i. e. declareth and evidenceth us to be just and justifyed B. 2. Man is the causa secunda between God and the action and so man should be still said to justifie himself Either I understand him not or he speaks words without matter or words that are nothing to the matter in hand He is speaking of justification as of a transient act of God upon man in time This act of God we acknowledge no other but Gods declaring and evidencing man to himself justifyed Gods manifestation or pronouncing his justification to his conscience How man in this act of God should be the causa secunda between God in the action he explaines not and I perceive not That man is the causa secunda between God in the application of justification so manifested I deny not But in this doth man no more justifie himself then is above expressed Or because it is faith in man which we pronounce to be Gods instrument of justifying is therefore man causa secunda or a self-justifyer nay faith even in man is Gods Creature and the same nothing of mans essence Not of our sâ—lves it is the gift of God Ephes 2. 8. May not God lay up his own instruments where it pleaseth his will and wisdome for his own use or ceaseth it to be Gods instrument or in Gods hand when it is laid up in the heart of man for his good Obj. But faith acts not in man without man as the second cause acting it and by such acting his faith man should justifie
a corrivall with it 6. He at last deals no lesse sophistically in his comparisons You may as well call saith he a mans life his instrument of acting or the sharpnesse of a knife the knives instrument as to call our holinesse or habituall faith the instrument of receiving Christ The aptitude of a cause to produce its effect cannot be called the instrument There is no parity in the Comparison Life to acting and faith to receiving of Christ are not Mr. Baxter will not say they are in one and the same kinde and order of causes and effects Besides one of the effects is put with the other subtlely left without an object as if the receiving of Christ were no more then and altogether as naturall to man as receiving indefinitely any naturall object so that albeit this Comparison may stand in some parity with a naturall and civill faith without the object Christ annexed to it yet the divine faith whereof we hear speak is of an another an upper and higher region and agrees not in motion with the naturall life or with the naturall or civill faith The one moves its course and operation in a way that God by nature hath prescribed and the other in the way which God by grace hath prefixed Their orbs are severed and not confounded either with other As for the other Comparison the sharpnesse of the knife Nothing else undoubtedly but the sharpnesse of M. Baxters wit could have devised it Is then faith in man no more then sharpnesse in a knife What good then might a ship-load of whet-stones and grinding-stones do among the Turks to make them Christians The sharpnesse of the knife is not any thing really distinct from the knife it is otherwise with the faith of a man The knife is mans instrument the sharpnesse thereof is but the aptitude of the instrument by which man as the efficient produceth the effect How shall this square in the Comparatum Man must be the principall efficient cause what will he assigne to be the instrument whereof faith is the aptitude to produce the effect But I fear of transgressing by following him that Parvis compâ—nere magna solebat That dares with audacious arrogance to measure the bottomlesse ocean in his fist and to try Celestiall and Spirituall things in the scales of Nature and to compare not with the Apostle spirituall things with spirituall 1 Cor. 2. 13. but with carnall profanely making the Mysteries of Christ to be rather the whetstone of his wit then the object of his reverence and ballast of his conscience I shall forbear here to add my judgment concerning what faculty or faculties of the soul are the subject of faith Whether faith may be more properly said to receive Christ by the faculty or the faculty by faith How far faith in the habit and how far in the act may be said to justifie These and other things may come more properly to be handled afterward then in this place It shall suffice that here notwithstanding Mr. Baxters winnowings yet faith faileth not from being our instrument of applying or receiving Christ Eightly The latter which he maketh his sixth Question Why he maketh faith the Câ—usa sine qua non he thus endeavours to maintain as it followeth in the nâ—xt Chapter CHAP. XXVI Arg. Mr. Baxters further dispute upon the same Subject examined and answered B. Pag. 223. TO the 6. and last Qâ—estion I answer Faith is plainly and undeniably the condition of our justification The whole tenour of the Gospell shewes that And a condition is but a Causa sine qua non or a medium or a necessary antecedent Short and in compasse of words little is it which he here speaketh yet if we look to the matter thereof in it two things are principally to be examined 1. That he makes faith the condition of justification and what he means by that term 2. That he cals it the Causa sine qua non He means questionlesse the same thing by both but the words differ and he useth both as by both together so by either part to get advantage to his cause Therefore I shall examine them severally To the former I have spoke somewhat largely before in the examination of his 13 14 15 17 18 19 20 43 44 45. Theses as he gave me occasion in these severall positions to answer what he there asserted of conditionall justification I have therefore here the lesse to speak referring the reader to what hath been spoken before Yea in this point I should be totally silent because Mr. Baxter in words speaks no more here then what some of our most sound and godly Divines have spoken before him that faith is the condition of justification were it that Mr. Baxter meaneth as they mean For though in the best meaning of the best men the propriety of the terms or phrase may be much questioned and give occasion of much dispute yet traversing controversies about words when there is agreement in the substance to which both parties drive is in my apprehension a businesse so far tending to distractions and breach of union among the Saints that it is the last and least Trade I am confident that ever will befall me to drive But in this point though Mr. Baxter here speaks in words what some of ours have said and do say still and that without any detriment that I can see to the Gospell Yet his meaning and theirs are in no lesse antipathie then a Hawk and a Heron and that as in other lesser so principally in these particulars of moment 1. By faith they mena our application or faith as it is our instrument of applying Christ and the grace of God in Christ to our justification he by faith means not only the 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 credere as a part of our inherent righteousnesse but as a generall and common word that compriseth within it self all good qualifications and good works whatsoever as elsewhere and specially in and under his 70 71. Theses he declareth himselfe so that he makes and under the word Faith understandeth all these as equall conditions with faith of our justification 2. By condition they mean that which being once attained and once fixed upon Christ speaks us absolutely justifyed for ever So that in calling faith the condition of justification they mean we cannot be justifyed without it but having once by faith apprehended Christ we are by it united and joyned to Christ and by force of our union with him are thenceforth absolutely and irrevocably pardoned and accepted as righteous in Gods fight He cals it so a condition as that it continues still a condition justifying us only conditionally and not absolutely so that it leaves our estate still one and the same no more justifyed and pardoned when beleevers then when unbeleevers For by the satisfaction of Christ we are before faith cometh conditionally justifyed if we beleeve and when faith is come we remain still but conditionally
he hath enough manifested himself B. Some think that Faith may be some small low and impulsive cause but I will not give it so much though if it be made a Procatarctick objective cause Iâ— will not contend If he mean any other difference between the impulsive and the Procatartick objective cause besides that which is between the Generall and the Speciall it is past my skill to understand him or to comprehend what he denies and what he grants no doubt either he would not be understood or else he attributes to his righteousnesse of faith and good works an excitation but not an impulsion forsooth of the Grace of God actually to justifie those whom he beholdeth Schild Metaph li. 1. câ— 44. N. 24 25 40. fairly dressed therewith and so the beauty of the object enamors God to love and justifie And what more doe the Pâ—pists teach and so our justification as Gods act is but in posse till our righteousnesse as a sufficient cause brings it into esse or act Thus far of Mr. Baxters causes of Justification in which if he hath illustrated or confirmed any truth of God God is much beholden to him and Aristotle for it For distrusting the succour of the Scriptures he hath left them and brought nothing else but Logical and Metaphysical notions and reasons to prove all that which he hath said CHAP. XXVII Arg. Whether the sinner be justifyed only by the act not the habit of faith And whether it be not ordained to this use by reason of the usefull property which God hath infused into it to receive Christ Whether and in what sense a man may be said properly to be justifyed by faith In which also some things are intermixed about Mr. Baxters 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Credere and conditions of Justification B. Thes 57. IT is the act of faith which justifyeth men at age and not the habit yet not as it is a good work or as it hath in it self any excellency above other graces but 1. In the neerest sense directly and properly as it is the fulfilling of the condition of the new Covenant 2. In the remote and more improper sense as it is the receiving of Christ and his satisfactory righteousnesse It is not for nothing that Mr. Baxter puts here a restriction upon justification by the Act of faith limiting it to men of age Are then elect infants that die before they attain age and strength of reason to put forth their faith into act justifyed only by the habit of faith It seemeth then that the hue and crie hath apprehended the 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 credere as to them and laid it fast from justifying them Again if they are justifyed by the habit of faith as a habit of inherent grace though not such as he here denyeth to have an excellency above other graces what difference doth he put between Justification and Sanctification Doth he not speak the same things here with the Papists Yea in a higher dialect then any of them For they grant to Infants justification only by the washing of Christs bloud conferred upon them in Baptism without any qualification of their own But this man if he thus say justifies them by an inherent righteousnesse of their own But if Infants are justifyed without the act of faith and yet not by its habit how are they then Justifyed but by that which he calleth Christs own justification as a publick person at his resurrection which notwithstanding he utterly denyed Thes 42. and its Explication and if they are so justifyed will it not follow then that justification by the act of faith is Gods declaring and mans applying of his justification to his present comfort and full assurance which Mr. Baxter explodeth as an unsufferable conclusion But dying Infants are to have no use of this present comfort and full assurance therefore it sufficeth them to be justifyed in Christ though not in themselves Lastly or do they depart hence unjustifyed because without actuall beleeving and receiving of Christ and so shall be justifyed in the day of judgment because at the resurrection they shall actually beleeve What a crie do the poor souls in the interim then make in that Limbus insantum And why may not then according to Origen all the Devils and reprobates in hell be then justifyed and saved also because then they may actually beleeve and according to Mr. Baxter the condition of justification lasteth untill that day B. Explication That faith doth not properly justifie through any excellency that it hath above other graces or any more usefull property may appear thus To the excellency of faith above other graces I have nothing to say But to the reasons which he brings to deny the more usefull property of it I shall speak briefly B. 1. Then the praise would be due to faith No more then when God gives us meat the praise of our nutriment and life is due to our teeth because they have a more usefull property to grind and chew the meat then our eyes or ears B. 2. Then love would contend for a share if not a priority This is only said and not proved or declared upon what grounds love should contend B. 3. Then faith would justifie though it had not been made the condition of the Covenant 1. We denie faith to be the condition of the Covenant in Mr. Baxters sense If he would have spoken directly to them against whom he argueth he should have said Then faith would have justifyed though it had never been appointed and given of God as an instrument to receive Christ the justifyer And then we should answer 2. That it is so much as if he had said Then our teeth would have nourished and preserved life although God had never appointed and given them to us as instruments to chew the nourishing meat And thus the Caveat that he addeth becomes uselesse viz. B. Let those therefore take heed that make faith to justifie meerly because it apprehendeth Christ which is its naturall essentiall propertie For none affirmes faith to justifie meerly because it apprehendeth Christ without considering also Gods ordering and fitting it to this office together with his promise and the virtue laid up in Christ to justifie all that do by faith so apprehend him B. That it is faith in a proper sense that is said to justifie and not Christs righteousnesse onely which it receiveth may appear thus 1. From a necessity of a twofold righteousnesse which I have before proved in reference to the twofold Covenant 2. From the plain and constant phrase of Scripture which saith he that beleeveth shall be justifyed and that we are justifyed by faith and that faith is imputed for righteousnesse It had been as easie for the holy Ghost to have said that Christ only is imputed or his righteousnesse only or Christ only justifyeth c. if he had so meant He is the most excusable in an errour that is led into it by the constant
also concurreth with it to blesse it even it alone to this end Here to determine peremptorily whether of these acts of God his qualifying of faith for or his commanding it to this use is more and lesse direct or proper to the end or whether they are coordinates thereunto I fear may proceed more from a headie rashnesse then from the modesty of Christian wisdome especially because I take justifying faith to be more then a naturall or morall virtue which Mr. Baxter possibly will deny viz. an infused habit qualifyed by God himself that infuseth it with this peculiar property to cleave unto Christ and receive him But by the way it shall not be impertinent to shew in some particulars what mentall Reservations Mr. Baxter hath in his words not easily appearing to a cursory reader 1. When he saith B. Faith justifyeth as it is the fulfilling of the condition of the new Covenant His meaning is that it only so far justifyeth as it fulfilleth the condition But throughout our whole life according to his principles we are but fulfilling have not fulfilled the condition of the new Covenant therefore throughout our whole life we are but in justifying not justifyed And then consequently if it be true what most of our Divines conclude that in the next life there shall be no use of faith because vinon and fruition are proper to that state beleevers shall not be justifyed at all because the condition was never fulfilled 2. When he saith B. Because God hath commanded no other means nor promised justification to any other therefore it is that faith is the only condition and so only thus justifyeth The reader that doth but catch here a little and there a little of his doctrine would think him by what he here findeth no lesse Orthodox in the point of Justification then Luther or Paul himself that he explodes all works all inherent righteousnesse from bearing the least part with faith unto justification whereas contrariwise he speaks not here of the faith of Gods stamping but of his own coining of a faith that brings in all good works that is it self all good works to justification attributes no more to faith then he doth to any other part of our inherent righteousnesse nor any thing to faith it self as usefull to justifie but as it is our whole inherent righteousnesse or at least a part of it as partly by that which hath been but principally by that part of his treatise which remains to be examined appeareth The rest of this Section I let passe without examination I come now to the fift and last Section of his Explication pag. 230. B. 5. That faiths receiving Christ and his righteousnesse is the remote and secondary and not the formall reason why it justifyeth appeareth thus We finde verifyed in Mr. Baxter that of the Poet Dolus an virtus quis in hoste requirat having professed open warre against the doctrine of all the Protestant Churches yea of the Gospell of Christ he manageth it more by stratagems then by valour We finde him here perverting in stead of rightly stating the question thereby to get advantage to answer what he will and to what he pleaseth The question controverted between us and the Papists first and in these latter times the Arminians also is not whether Gods instituting of faith in Christ or else the acting of faith so instituted be the one the formall and the other the remote reason why it justifyeth But whether faith so instituted of God to be the mean or instrument of our Justification doth justifie by vertue received from Christ its object or else by its own vertue as it is a good work or as it is an act of righteousnesse performed in obedience to Gods commandement That which they maintain is that faith justifyeth by vertue of its object Christ denying the Papists work and the Arminians act If Mr. Baxter did labour more for truth then for victory we should not finde in him so much fraud and so little of sincerity It is not Christs but Antichrists kingdome that is maintained by the pillarage of shifts and sophisms Let him not astonish the poor Saints of Christ with words that they cannot understand obscuring the truth with needlesse terms of art his poor flock of Kederminster for whom he affirmes himself to have compiled this work are in all probability as well acquainted with the formall and remote reason why faith justifyeth as they are with Hocus Pocus his Liegerdemain In this point let him either confute the assertion of our Divines or maintain the adversaries assertion here he doth neither directly but beats the aire and makes a great noise to little purpose Yet let us see how well he proveth his own assertion B. Suppose Christ had done all that he did for sinners and they had beleeved in him thereupon without any Covenant promising Justification by this Faith would this Faith have justified them By what Law or whence will they plead their Justification at the Bar of God This supposition is not full there must be another supposition antecedaneous to this supposition A true supposition that will shew the invalidity of this feigned one Suppose that upon a foregoing Covenant between the Father and him Christ hath done all this for his elect whom he knoweth by name and so Christ in their names hath given and God hath taken full satisfaction for all their offences and hereupon Christ hath received in their behalf a full acquittance and discharge Who now shall lay any thing to their charge It is God that justifieth Rom. 8. 33. under this supposition they are for ever freed from pleading at Gods Bar They have there an Advocate to plead for them Jesus Christ the righteous and he is the Propitiation for our sins 1 Joh. 2. 1 2. Sits at the right hand of God with the effectuall Oratory of his pretious bloud making intercession for us Rom. 8. 34. so the supposition of Mr. Baxter extends no further then this if without any Covenant promise of Justification by Faith in Christ could they by beleeving in him have had the beeing and comfort of Justification within their own souls Unlesse God had by some other way ratified and sealed this benefit to them I acknowledge they could not yet had their justification been still nothing the lesse firm before God in Christ But now by the promise of the New Covenant through Faith they have the sweetnesse and joy thereof in themselves also B. But suppose Christ having done all that he did for us that he should in framing the New Covenant have put in any other condition and said whosoever loveth God shall by vertue of my satisfaction be justified would not this love have justified No doubt of it I conclude then thus The receiving of Christ is as the silver of this coin the Gospel promise is as the Kings stamp which maketh it curraut for justifying If God had seen it meet to have stamped any thing else it
Treatise what before he did but hint and whisper in a kind of darkenesse now he preacheth on the top of the house proclaiming it as the sole Soul-saving doctrine canonizing as Saints the Papists for the constant holding forth of it and Anathematizing all the Protestants Churches as Apostaticall for departing from it as by examining what followes in this his Tractate will appear For the avoiding of confusion and prevention of a voluminous prolixity into which I see my self already carried by following him Thesis after Thesis being necessitated thereby as he speaks so to examine and answer the same things often in many places I shall endeavour to reduce unto some few heads the sum of what he saith upon this Question examining that which is to the purpose and leaving the rest that is inconsideraable or impertinent to it 1 Then I shall endeavour to draw out from him the state of the Question what he holdeth and how he holds it forth to us 2 I shall examine his Arguments and Reasons by which he endeavoureth to confirme his assertion or assertions 3 I shall also examine what force there is in the Reasons which he bringeth to clear himself and his doctrine from being derogatory to the grace of God and full efficacy of Christs mediation or from all tainture of Popery Socinianism or other heresies Within this Triangle I conceive the whole fabrick of his doctrine of workes to be comprehended and in examining of these fully nothing to be left unexamined that may make for his purpose 1 The state of the Question or his assertions which he maintaineth I shall as neer as may fitly be done transcribe from him in his own words thus 1 The bare act of beleeving is not the only condition of the new Covenant but severall other duties also are part of this condition viz. of Justification For this is his meaning and if he be not so understood he is understood besides his meaning and in what he saith he saith nothing His Tractate contains Aphorisms of Justification only And the conditions of the new Covenant which tend to Illumination Sanctification Glorification c. must not be confounded with those of Justification if it were granted him that the Gospell dispenseth all or any of these upon conditions In this sense therefore he must he will be understood Thes 60. pa. 235. 2 That these duties coordinate with Faith to our Justification as conditions thereof are Repentance praying for pardon forgiving others love hearing the word consideration conviction godly sorrow knowledge of Christ assent to the truth of the Gospell subjection consent acceptance cordiall covenanting self-resigning esteeming and preferring Christ before all loving him above all sincerity perseverance affiance sincere obedience and works of love serious painfull and constant use of Gods ordinances hearing praying meditating in a word all good works i. e. all the works of Righteousnesse holinesse mercy c. which the Law requireth yet with this proviso that all these legall workes must be called not our Legall but our Gospell Righteousnesse Thes 60. p. 235 236. p. 240 241 242. Thes 73 74 p. 289. 290 291 292. 3 That the non-performance of any one of these doth hinder but it is not one or many but a concurrence of all these together in one that sufficeth to condition us unto Justification Thes 61. So that when the promise of life is made in Scripture to our beleeving in Christ or to any other inseparable concomitant of Faith you must understand it Caeteris paribus viz. that your knowledge repentance obedience good workes c. are not an inch behind your faith or in sensu composito that it is a compounded Faith hath all other vertues not only included in it but also actuated and cooperating with it for justification or else you must be shaken off unjustified yea though all the rest be in act and but one out of act Thes 61. and its Explication He saith not this indeed totidem verbis word by word But let him deny the least particle of all this to be his meaning he shall by such a denyall extremely wound if not wholly subvert his cause and yeeld it to us 4 It is not the habit of these vertues as infused from above into us but the act or work of them as set in operation by us that justifieth For so saith he of Faith it self much more implieth it of the other vertues that it is the act of faith alone as it is our act or work that justifyeth aâ—d consequentially that we are justifyed wholly by works viz. as the alone condition or causa sine qua non 5 That some of these justifying vertues or works are antecedaneous to or fore-going preparatives of some integrall parts some proper essentiall formall acts some differentiall and essentiall parts some modifications some in separable products some both parts and necessary consequents and subservient acts some necessary continuing and exercising means and lastly some separable adjuncts of Faith yet tending to the well being thereof and thus having adorned faith like the Cornish Chough with the feathers of all the best birds he sends it to scar aloft with these plumes to heaven for justification which without this borrowed help of it self it was not in a capacity to do pa. 240 241 242. In these particulars I take the whole sum of his doctrine about this Question to be comprehended He addeth indeed some lenitives here and there to mitigate and make tolerable the asperity and harshnesse of these his assertions which we shall examine among the reasons that he brings to manifest his doctrine not to be derogatory from the glory of Gods grace c. as being more proper to that then this place All the forementioned particulars may be summed up in this one That all the acts or works of all morall vertues and of all insuâ—ed Habits if he grant any such are required coordinately with faith to make up the conditio upon which we shall and without which we cannot be justifyed In opposition to this all the Protestant Churches do and still have maintained that Faith alone and the same not as it is in the consideration of a habit or vertue or as an act of ours but by way of a means or instrument as hath been before explained justifyeth without any concurrence of works with it in the act and office of justifying This assertion he endeavours to destroy and establish his own with many Arguments which we shall examine severally either after other CHAP. II. Mr. Baxters preface to his first Argument drawn from Scriptures to prove Justification by works examined and the Scriptures which the Protestant writers bring against it and Mr. Baxter would have stifled in darknesse here brought to light together with the opinion of the most eminent Protestant writers upon this Subject HIS first argument is drawn from Scriptures unto which he thus prefaceth B. 235. I desire no more of those that deny this but that
what Scriptures our Divines bring to prove justification to be only by faith and to deny all cooperation of works therein And herein I shall put limits to my self not letting out all that they produce for so should I offend with immoderate length but some particulars that the weakest reader may see what Mr. Baxter would not give him to see that our Churches are not destitute of strong grounds for the bearing up of their faith and assertions And when this is done I shall descend to examine the force of those Scriptures quoted by Mr. Baxter to see whether they make for him and against us I shall begin from the reasoning of the Apostle Rom. 3. 20. c. having before proved both the Jews by and under the Law and the Gentiles without the Law to be guilty before God he concludes Therefore by the deeds of the Law there shall no flesh be justifyed c. and ver 21. The righteousnesse of God viz. to justification is manifested without the Law being witnessed by the Law and the Prophets to wit a righteousnesse which the Law is ignorant of the righteousnesse or life which is by faith From this righteousnesse the tenour of the Law or legall Covenant turns aside telling us he that doeth them shall live in them Gal. 3. 11 12. ver 22. Even the righteousnesse of God which is by the faith of Jesus Christ unto all and upon all that beleeve Lo here it is denyed to be by the most righteous works which the most perfect Law of God himself prescribeth and attained by faith only ver 24. Being justifyed freely by his grace through the redemption which is by Jesus Christ what can be said more fully It shall not be impertinent to annote briefly out of Zanchy what he hath upon Hier. zanch De natura Dei Lib. 4. Cap. 2. Th. 2. this verse more largly when the Apostle saith we are justifyed by his grace Per Gratiam intelligit gratuitum Dei favorem omnibus nostris exclusis sive naturalibus sive supernaturalibus dignitatibus saith he i. e. by Grace the Apostle meaneth the free love or favour of God excluding all parts and pieces of our worth both naturall and supernaturall and addeth that the Apostle still opposeth grace to all our works and to all our inward vertues wrought in us by the holy Ghost himself as well as to our legall and morall righteousnesse yea to faith it selfe as it is a work as is manifest to every one that hath with any consideration read this Epistle Therefore saith he he excludeth all works that he may conclude our Justification to be by grace alone Yea more the Apostle saith he not contented to say we are justifyed by grace addeth thereto 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 his grace that is by the grace which is in God not by any gift of grace infused by him into ourselves that it might be wholly of God and not of our selves at all in the least part Yea not contented with all this he addeth freely to notifie that there is not required any work or qualification on our part to put us into the possession thereof for so it should not be wholly by the free and naked favour of God as he tearms it And lastly he addeth by the redemption which is by Jesus Christ by this work of Christ excluding all ours hitherto that profound Zanchius Neither cannot it be freely by the redemption of Christ if our qualifications and conditions be brought to interesse us to it for so should we be in some kinde purchasers and not receive it freely The Apostle proceeds ver 25. Whom God hath set forth as a propitiation through faith in his bloud to declare his righteousnesse for the remission of sins c. The whole thing of Gods ordination to make the redemption propitiation and remission of sinnes which is by Christ actually ours to our comfort is here assigned to be saith in his blood and not any foregoing concomitant or subsequent vertue or duty of ours annexed to it and all to declare his righteousnesse Ver. 26. His righteousnesse he saith again that he may be just and the justifyer of him that beleeveth in Jesus If Mr. Baxters fancy stand of the Legall righteousnesse in Christ and the Evangelicall righteousnesse in us the Apostles assignation of the end of Gods justifying us by Christ should be maimed For he should have said To declare to declare I say his righteousnesse and our righteousnesse that he might be just and a justifyer and we might be just and justifyers of our selves And then we are to expunge the next verse Where is boasting then it is excluded by what law of works nay but by the law of faith For boasting should not be at all excluded if our works should bear a part with faith in justifying so should we have matter of glorying in our selves still How full is the Apostle here in the confirmation of Justification by faith without works had he seen what the Papists and Mr. Baxter over their shoulders would have objected against it he could not have spoken more punctually Yet as I know what the Papists say for themselves so I am not ignorant what Mr. Baxter will except for himself But I reserve the Examination thereof for another place where he goeth about to purge his doctrine from all contrariety that it hath to the doctrine of the Apostle and from any derogation from the Grace of God A second Testimonie or authority from Scripture we may draw from Rom. 4. 1 c. I shall be short in it The Apostle here denies 1 Our father Abraham the father of the faithfull himself to have been justifyed by works for then he should have whereof to glory ver 2 3. But as Abraham was so all the faithfull are justifyed by faith without works or to render the words of the Text By faith and not by works Here Mr. Baxter hath no evasion as in the former Chapter viz. that the works of the Law only are denyed for Abraham was under the promise not under the Law nether was the Law then given and the promise under which he was was without all condition of works so that the Apostle here excludeth works indefinitely I mean not good and evill works for no man ever brought evill works as evill to be thereby justifyed But good works whether Legall or Evangelicall all acts and deeds both of naturall and infused righteousnesse and holinesse 2 In affirming of him that worketh i. e. that seeketh justification by works that the reward is reckoned of debt to him that he requires it as due and shall not receive it if it be not found due in Justice but to him that worketh not but beleeveth on him that justifyeth the ungodly his faith is imputed to righteousnesse i. e. as hath been already evinced Christ by faith apprehended is of the free grace of God made righteousnesse to him When Mr. Baxter therefore claps his bundle of works upon
the shoulders of faith to officiate with it to justification he teacheth us to reject the grace of God and to exact at Gods hands both the righteousnesse of Christ and the end of it our salvation as a debt and due in justice The Apostle puts no medium here either between faith and works or between grace and debt where workes peep up with faith to justifie in any degree faith is destroyed grace rejected works alone stand pleading for justification and salvation at the barre of Gods justice from thence alone God heareth the plea of works in vain is it to plead them at the throne of grace there nothing else but the plea of faith in Christ is heard and excepted ver 4 5. 3 In describing the righteousnesse of justification to be a righteousnesse without works a blessednesse consisting in the covering forgiving and not imputing of sin ver 6 7 8. so that to obtrude works with faith into the office of justifying is to subvert Gods justification and erect our own i. e. our own condemnation 4. Ver. 16. From all his precedent reasoning the Apostle concludeth Therefore it is of faith that it might be by grace and left this should be taken for a justification peculiar to Abraham and not common to all beleevers he addeth that the promise might be sure to all the seed c. which is of the faith of Abraham as before he had said that he might be the father of all them that beleeve that righteousnesse might be imputed to them also even to them which walke in the steps of the faith of our father Abraham ver 11 12. And again afterwards ver 23. It was not written for his sake alone that it was imputed to him but for us also to whom it shall be imputed if we beleeve in him that raised up Jesus our Lord from the dead ver 24. In all which places though faith and beleeving alone are named yet are they named in opposition to and with an exclusion of works as the attentive reader of that chapter will easily perceive Not to fill up the paper with any other series or body of disputation which the Scriptures plentifully afford for the confirmation of our doctrine I shall only annex some scattered testimonies thereof compleatly proving the same The whole stream of the Gospell runs this way We that are Jewes by nature in covenant with God and not sinners of the Gentiles Knowing that a man is not justifyed by the works of the Law but by the faith of Jesus Christ even we have beleeved in Jesus Christ that we might be justifyed by the faith of Christ and not by the works of the Law c. Gal. 2. 15 16. By the position of faith works are here deposed By grace are ye saved through faith and that not of our selves it is the gift of God Not of works lest any man should boast Ephes 2. 8 9. Not of works but of him that calleth Rom. 9. 11. Not of him that willeth nor of him that runneth but of God that sheweth mercy Rom. 9. 16. Not by works of righteousnesse which we have done but according to his mercy Tit. 3. 5. This is the work of God that which is in stead of all works and effectual to justification without all works to beleeve in him whom he hath sent Joh. 6. 29. They which are of faith are the children of Abraham and blessed with our father Abraham for as many as are of the works of the Law are cursed Gal. 3. 7 9 10. Beleeve in the Lord Jesus and thou shalt be saved Act. 16. 31. Not by the Law of works for it is written The just shall live by faith Gal. 3. 11. If by grace then it is no more of works else grace should be no more grace if of works then it is no more grace else should work be no more work Rom. 11. 6. Hence is the opposition which the holy Ghost every where maketh between Gods righteousnesse and our righteousnesse Rom. 10. 3. The righteousnesse of faith and the righteousnesse of works Rom. 9. 30 31 32. Phil. 3. 9 10. and the consenting harmony of Scriptures that so oppose Law and Gospell faith and works Gods grace and mans righteousnesse Moses and Christ the righteousnesse which is by promise and that which consists in doing Gods imputation and our qualifications so that if the one be admitted the other must be excluded from justification Unto which if I should add all of the the rest Testimonies and examples of Scripture together with the Arguments which our Divines bring thence I should to use Mr. Baxters phrase be necessitated to transcribe almost all the Scripture that relateth to the New Covenant The conclusion therefore of our Divines is not only that works have not but also that they connot have any place in or to our Justification because righteousnesse and life are meerly and wholly by promise even by the free and absolute promise made to Abraham which was without all conditions annexed Gal. 3. 8 16 17. 18. therefore without works freely conferred on the children of the promise That they are by inheritance therefore descend freely upon them that are sons by saith Gal. 3. 18. Heb. 9. 15. Rom. 4. 13 114 16. and not attained by works That in respect of the righteousnesse of works Paul knew nothing by himselfe wherein he was not perfectly sincere and sincerely perfect yet deems not himself to be thereby justifyed for the Lord is his judge and justifyer whose justifications are free 1 Cor. 4. 4. That if justification were in any part by works then had man somewhat at least whereof to glory before God but he hath nothing whereof to glory therefore c. Rom. 4. 2. That it is by imputation wholly therefore cannot be from any inherent good in our selves Rom. 4. 3 4. That if flowes wholly from faiths object or correlate not at all from any vertue of faith as a qualification inherent in us much lesse therefore from any other qualification or work of ours whatsoever To which I might add their many other reasons proving that works cannot justifie That it is by promise as I said which is still opposed to works Gal. 3. 17 18 22. even by that promise that was made to Abraham which was free absolute and without all condition of works that Gospel promise In thee all Nations of the earth shall be blessed A promise admitting only them that are of faith to blessednesse but rejecting them that are of works to the curse Gal. 3. 7 8 9 10. Yea by the same absolute and unconditionall promise or covenant oft renewed Jer. 31. 31 -34. 32. 40. That this promise is made Yea and Amen ratifyed and effectuallized in Christ Jesus 2 Cor. 1 20. Not in works no nor in faith as the Papists work or Arminians act and deed or otherwise then as it is as Luther describes it Allegorically Luth. in Gal. Ca. 2. v. 16. the matter whereof Christ is the form
imforming and giving life and vertue to it an act apprehending Christ as its object in whom all its vertue lyeth the cloud or darknesse in which Christ dwelleth as God was formerly in a cloud or darknesse upon mount Sinai and in the Temple or as all our Divines say the hand by which we receive Christ made of God righteousnesse to us and in us Gal. 3. 27. 1 Cor. 1. 30. 2 Cor. 5. 21. That the life of justification consisteth not in works at all nor in faith considered in a sense divided from Christ but in Christ our life living in us so that the life which we live is by the faith of the Son of God by the recumbency of our souls by faith upon the Son of God which is our life and that this is to live by faith Gal. 2. 20. Col. 3. 4. Gal. 3. 11. That Christ with all his righteousnesse to remission and salvation is given us freely of God not sold as by Judas to his enemies and so made ours without money without price without fine or rent In the Covenant of grace there is nothing smelling of a Simoniacall contract it is wholly of Gods giving not in the least particle of our purchasing Isa 9. 6. Joh. 3. 16. Isa 55. 1. That the life and justification which are by the second Adam descend to us in the same manner with the sin and condemnation from the first Adam But these descended by our naturall union and communion with the first Adam not by our imitation of him For death reigned from Adam over them that had not sinned after the similitude of Adam Therefore also righteousnesse and justification descend to us by the union and communion which we have with the second Adam Christ Jesus and not from our imitation of him and configuration to him for when we were yet enemies we were reconciled to God by the death of his Son Not but that every one to whom the sin and condemnation of Adam once descended are thenceforth imitators of and configured to Adam or that they to whomsoever the righteousnesse and justification of Christ have descended do not thenceforth become imitators of and are configured to the image of Christ but that these imitations and configurations do follow and not goe before such union and communion declaring not producing the sin and condemnation which are from Adam or the righteousnesse and justification which are from the Lord Christ Rom. 5. 11. 19. And this is a sound Argument which the Apostle bringeth to prove that works can in no respect justifie or save For we are Gods workmanship saith he created in Christ Jesus to good works which God hath ordained before that we should walk in them Ephes 2. 9 10. where we may take notice that good works are Gods end in saving or justifying us from sin But the means do alway in order of nature go before and not follow the end in execution I mean though not in intention That we are first in Christ the justifyer and in possession of the justification that is by him and then being new created in Christ to the image of God are inabled to do good works That God hath ordained before that we should walk in them being saved or justifyed not that we should be saved or justifyed by them That the righteousnesse of God by which we are justifyed is from faith to faith not begun by faith and ended in works which according to the Apostle is a beginning in the spirit and a seeking to be perfected by the flesh Rom. 1. 17. Gal. 3. 3. Should I proceed so far as the Scriptures as a leading thread would guide me for the confirmation of justification without works I should be taken as exorbitant For the rest I shall refer the reader to such writers as have handled the point of justification against the Papists or to the disputations of the Apostle himself against the false Apostles who taught the same doctrine with Mr. Baxter though not expresly in the same words They taught that we cannot be saved by Christ by faith in Christ alone except we be circumcised and keep the Law or do the works which the Law commandeth Act. 15. 1 24. Mr. Baxter teacheth in this his 60. Thesis that B. The bare act of beleeving is not the onely condition of the New Covenant but severall other duties also are parts of that condition If we take together with his words that which in the precedent Chapter we have manifested to be his meaning in these words and that by the bare act of beleeving he understands faith without and in opposition to works for himself knoweth that it is his Pontificall-Arminian-Socinian not our Protestant Evangelicall doctrine which holds out justification by beleeving as either a bare or a cloathed act or work then he teacheth the same doctrine for which the Apostle anathematized the false Apostles and arch-church-troublers in his time Gal. 1. 7 8 9. 5. 12. And what the Apostle hath against them is against Mr. Baxter their own son I will not say in the faith but in perverting the faith and Gospell For neither did they deny faith but Mr. Baxters bare faith faith without works to be effectuall to justification Against this assertion common to him and them if there were no other Scriptures contradicting but what I have alleaged no arguments brought by our Divines to subvert it and to establish the contrary doctrine but what have been here expressed and implied al which are scarce a drop of their ful bucket yet doth Mr. Baxter declare any finglenesse of heart or sincere aime to advance the glory and truth of God in suppressing all this and all the rest in silence so to beguile his more Logicall then Theologicall readers whom he knowes to be more acquainted with Sophistry then Divinity with exotick scriblings then Canonicall Scriptures with an opinion that the stream of Scriptures runne all to his Mill and that we have nothing from the Word favouring our cause Neither let any object that our Churches do only deny the merit of works not the necessity of them as a condition to justification Herein I shall have a fit place to speak afterward as to Mr. Baxter and as it is his plea to lenifie his self-arrogating assertion In the interim to manifest the simplicity of our gudgeons that are apt to swallow the most portentous errours if offered to them involved in fine terms of logicall notions among whom some that erewhile did prosecute with bel book and candle some to death some to banishment some to sequestrations whom they thought but to smell a little of the perfumes of the purple whore These very same men now having inriched themselves with the spoyles of them whom by their outcries they erewhile pursued are mad to drench themselves with the very dregs of the cup of fornication which is in the hand of the whore and kisse the lips of Mr. Baxter which hath blessed with plausible words the doctrine
but those of Mr. Baxter as far as they relate to it do follow justification 4 The scope of these Scriptures is to urge upon all that draw near to God in prayer to purge out all hatred and purposes of revenge against their brethren from their hearts and the argument by which this duty is pressed is that else it as also any other reigning sin allowed within the heart will make both their persons and prayers an abomination to the Lord. God will not hear will not forgive such as bring while they bring such a devill in their hearts before him they shall depart without any more answer of peace to their souls then they are disposed to give to their brethren against whom they are provoked From these Scriptures therefore we may gather how they are qualifyed which are forgiven and justifyed not by what qualifications and works they have obtained justification That whosoever hath tasted of the pardoning grace of God the same by beholding in Christ the glory of Gods grace as in a glasse is transformed into the same image of grace love mercy goodnesse pity c. towards his brethren as himself hath found in God and sees shining forth upon him from the face of God through Christ 2 Cor. 3. 18. That in whomsoever this mercy and goodnesse of God appears not whatsoever he boasteth of faith and devoutnesse in prayer yet it is certain that he is empty of justifying faith and of the justification which is by faith and so we have here some description of the justifyed and unjustifyed not a precept of duties by which the unjustifyed may attain to be justifyed 5 The three last quotations of Mr. Baxter do subvert utterly all that he built by the former quotations For these Scriptures affirming it to be not indefinitely prayer but the prayer of faith which saveth and obtaineth forgivenesse that not the asking simply but the asking of the faithfull in Christs Name is prevalent that not every one but we know that whatsoever we aske we have our petitions granted do manifest that whatsoever vertue is in prayer it floweth from faith prayer it self is a dead work unlesse faith enliven it and all our works of mercy and forgiving dead works untill faith becomes the living root from which they derive life or rather hath breathed out the life which it hath suckt from Christ our life into them That it is Christs name and mediation that makes all accepted with God and that not to all but to those peculiar ones of Christ that are in union and conjunction with Christ it being a priviledge peculiar to true beleevers that is here mentioned under the word we we have it saith the Apostle the world hath no part in it Esaus forgiving Sauls confession of sin and Simon Magus his prayer for forgivenesse may as in Mr. Baxters last quotation Act. 8. 22. perhaps be so far heard and forgivenesse obtained from the Lord as to the exempting of them from some temporall vengeance but not to interest them in the justification of the Gospell If the cryes and workes of any of these dogs bring them in to partake of the childrens bread it is but in mans judgement alone before God it was their faith and cleaving to Christ yea being in Christ by faith that of dogs made them children and partakers of the Gospell priviledges So these Scriptures in no wise prescribe as I said the duties by or for which we are but delineate the Acts and qualifications of those that are justifyed by Christ So much in generall to the summe of these Scriptures as for the meaning of the severall Scriptures and how Mr. Baxter argues from them as the Papists how the Sophisters for so our men fitly tearm the Papists endeavour from them to prove justification by works and the Protestants answer and confute them I leave to the Reader to fetch from the Commentators themselves whom they shall finde to speake fully as Mr. Baxter knoweth but concealeth not daring to enter the Lists with them The third duty which he brings as coofficiating with Pag. 236. faith to justification is a complexion of duties the whole swarm the vast mountain of duties all that men and Angels can devise to be duty yet that he might declare how he can measure and contain so huge an Ocean in his fist he crusheth them so together as that they may be held in the concave of two Eg-shels love and sincere obedience and their works Fain would he have followed Bellarmine as his shâ—ddow at every turne but he finds his genius somewhat differing from Bellarmines The Cardinall was for prolixity Mr. Baxter is for brevity Bellarmine puts love in the fourth place as operating to justification with faith and thence proceeds to more But Mr. Baxter follows him here to love and weary to go after him any further in particulars shakes hands in love with him and parts from him with good leave in respect of his method but in his matter to hold with him throughout the work The first Scripture which he quotes is the first which Bellarmine alleadgeth thus B. Luk. 7. 47. though I knew in Pinks interpretation of that It seems Pink hath given the right interpretation of that Text which all the Protestants give But Bellarmine interprets it otherwise and must not Christ mean as Bellarmine will have him The words of the Text are these Wherefore I say unto thee her sins which are many are forgiven for she loved much But to whom little is forgiven the same loveth litle What doth Mr. Baxter hence conclude the same with Bellarmine her much love was the ground of the forgivenesse of her many sins and so her love went before her justification and forgivenesse which followed as the fruit or consequent thereof Bellarmine and his fellowrs put authority and holinesse upon this interpretation else would not Mr. Baxter who makes right reason the foundation and rule of his Religion forswear his wit and reason to follow it For it is evident from the Text to all that are not sworn enemies to the truth that the Lord Jesus reasoneth here from the effect to the cause and not from the cause to the effect from the womans great love that many sins were forgiven her causing this love not from the greatnesse of her love as from the cause why so many sins were forgiven her So runs the Text Which will love most he to whom the creditor hath forgiven 500. pence or he Ve. 41 c. to whom he forgave 50 The answer was I suppose he to whom most was forgiven Thou hast well said saith the Lord so it is with this woman she loves much because much was forgiven her Who sees not here the forgivenesse to be the cause of the love not the love of the forgivenesse Or will Bellarmine which affirmes this woman to be Mary Magdalen or Mr. Baxter after him say that while she was yet a Harlot and had seven Devils in her that
slaves future service is not a condition but a consequent of his present redemption But let us see now whether Mr. Baxter with this paint of that which he cals right Reason do fight against God or Man doth resist the placits of men or else the holy Ghost himself He required before that all might be tryed by Scriptures Let us now bring his doctrine to the touch-stone I shall not repeat all or any of the Scriptures before alleadged or that might be further alleadged against him One arrow out of that holy quiver one Scripture out of the whole body of Gospell doctrine shall suffice to smite to the heart to death it self all that he goeth about here with fine flourishes of wit to establish Eph. 2. 8 9 10. thus speaks the holy Ghost By grace are ye saved through faith and that not of your selves it is the gift of God Not of works lest any man should boast For ye are Gods workmanship created in Christ Jesus to good works which God hath before ordained that we should walk in them That the word Saved is an equipollent here with Justifyed if there should be any that will deny yet Mr. Baxter will and must affirme unlesse he will beat in pieces one of the chief pillars of the fabrick erected in this book and overthrow what he hath built In this truth he must joyn with us though in other he estrange himself from us The same Act of God being called justifying as it dischargeth us from the state of our misery as considered to be a state of sin and saving as it delivereth us from it under the consideration of it as a state of condemnation and vengeance Mr. Baxter will grant cannot but grant this And then there will naturally drop from this Scrtpture these following positions 1 That the justification or salvation of the Covenant of grace is by faith 2 That it is not of works but by faith in opposition to works 3 That the very works which flow from our union to Christ and to which we are new created in Christ Jesus even those which Mr. Baxter calleth the righteousnesse of the Gospell are excluded from bearing any part with faith in our justification 4 That the not justification by works doth in no wise hinder the beleevers performing of them for they are created in Christ Jesus their hearts are new wrought by the Spirit to a holy delight in them 5 That God hath not ordained them to justifie but for the new created and justifyed in Christ to walk in them 6 That to teach otherwise of works the very works of Sanctification is to depresse Gods grace and to extoll mans boasting and vain-glory 7 Even these gospell works and righteousnesse are excluded from having any part in justifying not only as collaterals with the satisfaction of Christ but also as collaterals with faith i. e. from bearing a part either in causality or conditionality with faith to justifie I challenge Mr. Baxter and all his Legall and Anti-evangelicall disciples here to deny any one of these positions to spring naturally from this Text. And if the the holy Ghost here speak all this then by it all that Mr. Baxter speaketh throughout this whole Tractate for justification by works is by the breath of Gods mouth blown to the curse as in many things I shall by Gods help shew afterward At the present what he speaketh of works comprehended in faith to justification is here shaken off as a Sophisticall phantasticall Antiscripturall dream the holy Ghost here by the positing of faith in expresse words rejecting works Gospell works all that Mr. Baxter makes a part with faith in that which he cals Evangelicall righteousnesse from all and any copartnership with faith in saving or justifying so excludes all as that he denyeth that justification by grace can any more stand if the best Gospell works of the best Saints are put in any cooperation with faith in the promoting of it All the rest that he hath in the explication pa. 240. and thence to pa. 243. is wholly besides the question which is not whether works and duties be reducible to faith or in what respect every particular qualification and duty standeth to it But whether reduced or not reduced it doth by Gods appointment help with saith to justify us before God This we have found to be an usuall feat of Mr. Baxter where his assertions are confident and peremptory but his proofs of them light and shadie to devise in such case some witty passage wherewith to divert the considerations of his reader from the shame and nakednesse of his foregoing Arguments And this most probably was his drift and craft here having given us but words in stead of Arguments to prove that works are comprehended and implied in faith in all such Scriptures as attribute justification to faith only that the emptinesse and nothingnesse of his argumentation to make this good may not appear to the reader he tols him a way to attend to a subtle and plausible dispute of the relation that every good endowment and work hath particularly to faith In which discourse of his we will not examine how many things are true and how many false for if they were all true they are nothing to the thing in question viz. whether in the severall relations that Mr. Baxter makes them to stand to faith or in any other they help with faith to justification and that so as that when all these with faith cojustifie we may be yet said to be justifyed by faith alone When he hath spoken all by meer affirming without confirming he thus indeed at last concludeth pa. 243. B. So then when you invite a man to your house it is not necessary to bid him come in at the door or bring his head or arms or legs or cloaths with him though these are necessary because all these are necessarily implyed Even so when we are said to be justifyed by faith only or when it is promised that he which beleeveth shall be saved all these forementioned duties are implyed and included How ecliptick is falshood but sincerity open and full No man invites another to his house but to some end either to taste of some dainties or hear some good tidings or see some excellent work or for some other end He should have named the end and we would grant him all thus that as much as the door head legs armes clothes of the invited do partake with the mouth in the act of tasting or with the eye in seeing or the ear in hearing so much when we are invited to Christ do other duties and workes partake with faith in receiving him to justification A third argument if indeed it be not one and the same in substance and differ only in words from the former he draweth from a wide wilde vast confused and incircumscriptive definition of faith begotten of his own brain and now first as an overgrown monster born into the world and baptized
From the attributes that he gives to the faith to which he denieth justification viz. a dead faith ver 17. 20. 26. A faith of Devils ver 19. But a dead and Devillish faith are not a true Gospel faith but at the best a figment and counterfeit thereof 4. From the similitude by which he illustrateth his disputation If a man in a pretence of charity speaks comfortable words to his hungry and naked brother Alas poor soul be cloathed be filled but ministreth nothing to him for his refreshing will any call that flourish of words true charity Is it any more then a paint therof So also of him that saith hee hath faith but evidenceth it not by its fruits c. The verball faith doth no more profit to justification than the verball charity to sanctification If one of these in the mind of the Author be true charity then according to the minde of the Author also the other is true Faith 5. From the object of that Faith which James excludeth from Iustification Mr. Baxter acknowledgeth that the object of justifying Faith is Christ Thes 66 -68 and their explication But let him shew that James doth here expresly or impliedly in any one passage of his dispute make Christ the object of that Faith which he excludes from justification or any other object than the Faith of a meer Heathen or Hypocrite may pitch upon viz. generall truths that there is a God c. else let him grant from his owne principles that it is not true Faith but an unprofitable Historicall Faith as some terme it which is here excluded Thus have our writers in answer to the Papists Cavills expressed the minde of James in this place or rather from him selfe declared what himselfe expresseth to be his minde and this they expresse not as Mr. Baxter perverts them by some one but by both of these interpretations viz. of the word justifying and the word Faith manifesting out of James himselfe that as oft as in this dispute he attributes justification to works he speaks of justification i e. the declaration or manifestation thereof to men As when vers 21 Abraham and ver 25. Rahab and ver 24. A man indefinitely are said to be justified by works he meanes they are so manifested and declared by their works to us This is a usuall phrase not only in Scripture but in our common expressions and our common talk I will justifie what I have spoken or done i. e. I will declare it make it appear to be all good true and just I will justifie him from all that is layd to his charge i. e. I will declare and prove him just and free from all that he is charged with Again where hee denieth justification to that dead faith that worketh not by love that by faith he means a false profession and counterfeit of and not the true justifying faith and who among us ever said that to say I have faith never expressing the power and fruits of it can justifie a man So there is nothing to be found in James crossing the Protestant yea Evangelicall and Apostolicall conclusion that we are justified in our consciences before God by faith alone without works i. e. by a living and working not a dead faith yet without works can we not be declared and manifested just unto men That which Mr. Br. hath spoken against the former part of this interpretation viz. justification before men we have found to be either less or worse than nothing To the other viz. the denying of justification to faith that is a counterfeit a false profession of faith hee saith nothing and why because hee hath not what to say Therfore he stifles it in darknes will not have his Reader hear of it for then actum est he must run to S. Francis or some other Saint S. James leaves him in the mire It is no lesse ludicrous than fallacious that he turns the state of the question another way and danceth round about it never comming to that which our Divines answer 1. Having devised pag. 294. that we say James speaks of works as justifying our faith not our persons he doth pa. 296. goe about to prove that works justifie the person not the faith only And who ever denied this position Doe not wee all say that the holy life declares the truth of faith and therin justifieth as to men the professor of it from all hypocrisie in making such a profession 2. pag. 297. he falls foul with the Ghost of sweet Mr. Pemble for saying that by Faith and works Iames understands a working Faith And after a sharp chiding without examining his Reasons the matter whereof I have before examined at length p. 298. fetching breath he offers him peace and friendship upon condition that he will arise from the grave say what Mr. Baxter saith But despairing of that and concluding if he should rise again from the dead he would still say with the Protestant Churches and Writers that Fides solùm justificat non autem fides sola Faith alone justifieth but not that Faith which is alone without works because that alone faith is not a true Faith he 3. Makes a transition to fall out with all Protestant Churches for attributing too much to Faith in making it instrumentall to Iustification that when Believers are said to receive Christ Io. 1. 12. and to receive abundance of Grace and of the gift of Righteousnesse Rom. 5. 17. wee will not say they receive this Christ this gift of his Righteousnesse to Iustification without any receiving instrument but make Faith the instrument by which we receive the same p. 299. A most pernicious Doctrine to Mr. Baxters Cause If it stand Mr. Baxters Iustification by workes in the same relation with Faith as its Concause must needs fall and tumble downe to hell for works will not be bowed into any instrumentality to co-operate with Faith in receiving Christ and his righteousness When contrariwise if we would say as he doth and which we must take his word without any further demonstration to bee true then in despite of Paul and the Holy Ghost our justification should be parted between faith and works and Mr. Brs. new Gospel stand the Gospel of Grace being wholly taken out of the way as unprofitable But in all that he saith hee diligently keeps off from speaking a word to what our Divines say in proving from James himselfe that he means not true faith when hee denies to the counterfeit or profession of it any efficacy to justifie and let the conscientious Reader judge whether he doth this in zeal for Christ or against him Let none except that possibly hee never read any of them that have thus expounded James What one of them hath he then read Nay I rather question what one of them hath he not read or with what one thing is he unacquainted that any of them hath written He is a stranger to Mr. Br. that will accuse him of little reading
apt still to decline from his righteousnes and to close with our own if there bee not continuall working and warring against its fleshly working in this kind If wee look to that which follows all confidence in our own strength is prohibited and all dependance and relying upon Gods grace and power is commanded that wee stand alway in a trembling feare of falling and sinking through our miserable weaknesse and proneness to Apostacy and therefore keep firme and continuall hold-fast in the grace and power of God extended to us in Christ for our supportation because it is God alone that worketh in us both to will and to doe of his good pleasure and not of any worth or workes of ours moving him ver 13. Such a working out of our salvation that consisteth in working away all our owne works righteousnes as insufficient yea as destructive to it and in working up our selves by the power of God into Christ into the shelter of Gods grace for salvation wee grant to Mr. Baxter But this will not please him Yet because the Apostle as by the context is evident teacheth this and no other working for salvation here we must leave him so displeased as they are wont to be that by their owne plea destroy theire owne cause and minister matter out of their owne mouth to be judged B. Ro. 2. 7. 10. hath been before answered B. 1. Co. 9. 24. so run that ye may obtaine 2. Tim. 2. 5. If a man strive for mastâ—ries he is not crowned except he strive lawfully What this running striving or fighting is the same Apostle teacheth us by his example 2. Tim. 4. 7. 8. I have fought the good fight saith he I have finished my course what meanes he by these the next words declare I have kept the Faith henceforth c. B. 2. Tim. 2. 12. If we suffer we shall also reign with him If we deny him he also will deny us This is if in despite of all sufferings or persecutions wee stand fast in the Faith and adhere firme to Christ we shall reign with him But if for feare of persecution we deny him and fall from the Faith he also will deny us that ever wee had any true union and communion with him by faith B. 1. Tim. 6. 18. 19. Charge them that are rich c. not to trust in uncertain riches c. that they do good bee rich in good works ready to distribute willing to communicate laying up for themselves a good foundation against the time to come that they may lay hold on eternall life The Apostle heer forbids the rich to trust in or to make their uncertain riches a foundation of happines to themselves and contrariwise admonisheth them that this trashy felicity should not hinder them from laying a good foundation of their everlasting blisse in heaven He saith not as Mr. Br. abusively wresteth his words in his Append. p. 95. that they should lay their good works as a good foundation against the time to come that they may lay hold on eternall life For so should he have contradicted himself 1. Co. 3. 1â— 11. According to the grace of God given me I have laid the foundation c. For other foundation can no man lay than that is layd Jesus Christ So this exhortation is the same in substance with that of our Saviour Lay not up for your selvs treasure upon earth where moth and rust doth corrupt c. but lay up for your selves treasure in heaven where neither moth c. B. Lu. 11. 28. Blessed are they that hear the word of God and keep it Amen For the word of God makes Christ our All and in us all Col. 3. 11. Search the Scriptures or the word of God sayth the same our Saviour for in them ye think to have eternall life and they are they which testifie of me not of works to have wrought out eternall life for you yet yee will not come to mee but to works and your own righteousness that ye may have life Io. 5. 39. 40. B. Mat. 25. 41. 42. Goe yee cursed into hell fire prepared for the Divell and his Angels for I was hungry and yee fed me not thirsty c. Righteous judgement For what other cause should the cursed be sentenced to the curse but for their unbeleefe and evill deeds which brought and deserved the curse Would he have them to be damned for their faith and good works The rest Scriptures have been urged and examined before Now of all these Scriptures let Mr. Br. name but two that were not prepared to his hand eyther by Bellarmine or some other Papists in their disputes against the Protestants or shew any reason why he mentions most of them having no shew of subserviency to his purpose unless he thinks them hallowed by their fingering If there bee expected a larger and fuller Answer to the Arguments which the Papists draw from any of these Scriptures I transmit to some of the many hundreds of our Divines that have answered them CHAP. VIII Arg. Mr. Baxters 7. Argument for Justification by Works examined drawne from the Tenour of the last dayes Judgement which he saith shall pass according to works And these questions discussed whether upon whom and in what respects the last sentence shall so passe according to Works A Seventh Argument which he brings to prove Justification by works is drawne from the issues upon which our future Judgement shall passe in the last day That saith he shall be according to works Therefore is this also But let him bee heard speaking his owne words B. Thesis 80. pag. 317. It is most clear in the Scripture and bâ—yond all dispute that our Actuall most proper compleat Justification at the great Judgement will be according to our works and according to what we have done in the Flesh whether good or evill which can bee no therwise than as it was the Condition of that Justification And so Christ at that great Assize will not give his bare will of Purpose as the Reason of his proceedings but as he governed by a Law so he will judge by a Law and will then give the reason of his publicke sentence from mens keeping or breaking of the conditions of his Covenant that so the mouths of all may be stopped and the equity of his Judgement may be made manifest to all and that he may there set forth his hatred to the sins and not only to the persons of the condemned and his love to the obedience and not only to the persons of the justified This also he hath from Bellarmine the other Jesuits Papists Neither is there any one besides his fourth Argument which he hath not transcribed from them and even that also is by them somewhat hammered to his use Nay from the very beginning to the end of this his Tractate all is theirs as to the matter thereof onely the translating of it into English and reducing it to his owne method
heâ—r it tends to the promoting of his cause to affirme it And this alters the Case quoth Ploydon How rightly did Mr. Baxter describe his owne acting in this businesse p. 291. I resisted saith he the Light of this Conclusion as long as I was able It is the light of the Conclusion not of the Premises that swayeth him First hee pitcheth upon this Conclusion Works justifie there was light in this Conclusion it fell out of the Lant-horne of the Jesuits sophistry into his bosome and by that light he is swayed and having taken up the conclusion in such light of its owne from them now he digs downward for day and takes up that which erewhile he shook off as darkness for light to illustrate and prove it So his light conclusion is first formed and afterward he seeks for Crutches and reasons what come first to hand to support it sacrificing here more to hast than to reason lest his idol should fall before he returnes with his props to sustaine it And what if upon new thoughts we shall finde all that is here said all so unsaid again Let us passe to his explication peradventure we may stumble at such a stone before we come off from it B. Explication Heere I have these things to prove 1 that the Justifying sentence shall passe according to works as well as Faith 2. That the Reason is because they are parts of the condition For the first see Mat 25. 21. 23. well done good aâ—d faithfull servant thou hast been faithfull over a few things I will make thee ruler over many things enter thou into the ioy of thy Lord. And most plaine is that from the mouth of the judge himselfe describing the order of the processe of that day Mat. 25. 34 35. Come ye blessed inherit the Kingdome c for I was hungry c. So 1 Pet 1. 17. who without respect of persons judgeth according to every mans worke So 2. Co 5. 10. we must all appeare before the judgement seat of Christ that every one may receive the things done in his body acording to that he haâ—h done whether good or bad So Rev. 20. 12. 13. They were judged every man according to his works Heb. 13. 17. Phil 4 17. Mat. 12. 36 c. but this is evident already The Scriptures that he brings to prove that the justifying sentence shall passe according to workes as well as Faith are first here put and therefore first to be examined And against his reasoning from them I except 1. as well as Faith is here foysted in being wanting in the position And why heere supplyed but to beguile the simple with a good opinion of his assertion as if he attributed something to Faith also in Christs and Pauls sense When contrariwise he teacheth that Faith hath nothing to doe in this businesse but in the notion of our Act our righteousnesse or worke so that with him to be justified by Faith is to be justified by our owne worke 2. That there is no one of these Scriptures but is alledged by Bellarmin and his fellows against the Protestants and by them fully answered manifested to make nothing for justification or salvation by works scripture after scripture no one of them pretermitted When Mr. Baxter now stands up in Bellarmins place against us is it sufficient for him to tel us what Bellarmin hath said against the truth as if we could not without him know it and to leave unanswered yea unmentioned the hundreds of our side that have retorted upon him his owne arguments to the subverting of his owne cause that by these Scriptures he would have maintained If he would have another answer ought he not to have excepted against the validety of those that have beene already given Is he worthy to heare more from vs that hath stopped his eares against all that so many worthies have said already scorning to take notice thereof Nay when he will onely alledge the Scriptures and not take the labour to tel us what or how he will conclude from them he leaves us not in a capacity to declare so much as our consent with him or dissent from him Yet for the use of the weaker sort of readers that have not ability to make recourse to those learned workes where these controversies are handled or to understand them in that language in which most of them are written I shal speak something in generall to all these Scriptures First of that of Mat. 25. 21. 23. or rather taking the whole parable together beginning at ver 14. and ending at v. 30. granting it on both sides to be the same Parable which Luke recordeth chap. 19. beginning at the 12. and ending at the 27. verse which very few have questioned no one hath had cause to deny then it suits not at all with Mr. Baxters purpose or his Judgement dayes justification For the Kingdome of Heaven and the Lords comming and reckoning with his Servants and retribution of their service is to be taken for Christs comming to preach first in his owne person and then to set up and stablish the Gospel by the Ministry of his Apostles The servants to be reckoned with are principally the Teachers of the Iewes the Talents used or abused are the mysteries of the Gospel revealed though veyled under the Law The matter of the Account is what each by his serious studies and labours had cleared up to himselfe and others of this Gospel and saving knowledge of Christ before his comming for the advancement and advantage of Christ at his comming They which had spent their labours this way received at Christs comming a double measure of the spirit of illumination in the knowledge of Christ and salvation by him and were intrusted with a fuâ—ler measure of this sacred Treasure to bee the dispencers thereof to the world But hee which â—ad wrapt his Talent in a Nâ—pkin and hid it in the earth left the Doctrine of Christ scattered throughout the old Testament under a veile as he found it without searching into it and clearing it up to others was lâ—ft in the state of infidelity rejected and bound over hand and foot by his unbeliefe to perdition And his Citizens which sent word after him wee will not have this man to rule over us we will have a Christ such a one as wee have framed to our selves in our owne immaginations but not this Christ have their doom not only denounced but executed also upon them bring them hither and slâ—y them before me Who are these but the great Body and Nation of the Iewes that professed themselves Citizens and the onely Saints of God but for their refusall of Christ were slaine and destroyed by the sword of the Romans And so the parable comprehends in it a Prophecy of the successe of the Kingdome of Grace now in the way of erecting in its power as to the Iews So saith Luke in that 19. Chapter verse 11. Hee added and spake a parable because
life and salvation not to the end that we may be justified by them but in thankfullnesse for our justification by Christ without workes to bee an Antinomian and damning doctrine if reduced to practice he pâ—rremptorily pronounceth not onely all Protestant Churches and saints but also Paul himselfe an Antinomian and damned For 1. that Paul and all the Apostles of Christ doe teach and urge upon all the Saints of Christ all diligence in good workes and duties and fruitfulnesse in obedience in thankfulnesse for their Iustification Mr. Baxter will not cannot deny for if he should he cannot be ignorant that he shall be forthwith overwhelmed with testimonies of Scriptures against him that himself must acknowledge unwrested Yea he must quench not only the light of the Gospell but also of reason and nature it selfe which possibly are more authentique with him than Gospell to deny that we are to be really as well as verbally thankfull to God for his least much more for his greatest benefits such as are our Iustification and salvation But that the Apostle also teacheth that we are not to performe good works and duties that we may be justified and saved by them is evident To him that worketh saith he i. e. seeketh it by works the reward is reckoned not of grace but of debt shall be conferred on him if due in strict Iustice he must expect nothing from grace But to him that worketh not seeks not the attainment therof by works his Faith is imputed to him for righteousnesse Ro. 4. 4. 5. to which he addeth the testimony of David pronouncing the man blessed to whom God imputeth righteousnesse without workes ver 6 7 8 By Grace are ye saved through Faith not of workes least any man should boast Eph. 2. 8 9. we knowing that a man is justified by the workes of the Law have beleeved in Christ Iesus that we might be justified by the Faith of Christ for by the works of the Law none can be justified Gal. 3 16. Not by workes of righteousnesse which we have done but of his mercy he hath saved us Tit. 3. 5. That no man is justified by the Law it is evident for the just shall live by Faith The strength of the reasoning is in the opposition of the Righteousnesse by which the Gospell to that by which the Law justifieth By Faith therefore not by our sinceerest and exactest study of the righteousnesse which the Law prescribeth Gal. 2. 11. with many other testimonies before frequently alledged Lo heere the Apostle teaching the same doctrine which Mr. Baxter damneth a working not for Iustficacation by his workes but from justification and in thankfulnesse for it Yea hee reduceth it to practise also Wee knowing that there is no iustification by workes have beleeved in Christ Jesus that we may be justified Gal. 2. 16. I count all things doung that I may winn Christ and bee found in him not having my owne Righteousnesse which is of the Law but that which is through Phil. 3. 8 9 the Faith of Christ the Righteousnesse of God by Faith Behold wee heere in these Scriptures the Apostle teaching and reducing to practise every particle of the doctrine which Mr. Baxter heere dâ—mneth What followeth According to Mr. Baxter Paul is an Antinomian and damned Let me also be so damned with Paul the Antinomian rather then justified in the way of Mr. Baxters justification Mr. Baxter cannot evade here by any sophisticall interpretation of Pauls sense and meaning in these scriptures For they which have delivered this doctrine of Paul in Pauls words or in words equivalent professe themselves to hold it also in Pauls sence and meaning So that Mr. Baxter in interpreting Pauls interprets their meaning also so that it is evident that his wrath here is against the very doctrine of Paul though his pretence bee to blow up them onely which speake after him But Mr. Baxter hath a greater authority than Paul can boast of for himselfe to pronounce them all Antinomians and damned with Paul that followe Pauls doctrine viz. the determination of the Holy councell of Trent which hath thus concluded Si quis dixerit c. If any shall say that a man is justified by Faith alone without workes let him be accursed Who dares now to equillize Pauls Tent to the Popes Throne and so many Cardinals and Bishops palaces As to the matter it selfe it is all sophisticall and fallatious that Mr. Baxter here delivereth Let him bring that Antinomian to light that hath ever taught that we must not labour and strive for justification and salvation against whom his Argument may holde good that he must needs bee damned because he that seeketh not and striveth not to enter shall never enter Some indeede by expressing themselves too briefly have given occasion to Mr. Baxter and such as he is to catch a phrase or sentence from them that may smel of some absurdity as considered in it selfe and by its selfe such as is that which he heer mentioneth we must work from life and not for life But if the scope of the Authors in such phrases be gathered from that which went before and that which followeth it will appear clearly they meant we are not to work and perform duties to this end that wee may bee justified and saved by such works as works and duties but to perform them in love and thankfulness to him that justifieth us freely of meer grace without works through the Redemption which is by Christ Jesus And this is the Question betweene Mr. Baxter and the Papists on the one part and the Antinomians i e. the Protestants on the other part whether wee must perform good works and duties to bee justified and saved by them and for them so performed yea by them or for them as they are our inherent righteousness our perfect possible and meritorious Righteousness All which he affirms and the Protestants with one consenting voice deny as hath been before and may after before we part from Mr. Br. be more fully manifested What he concludes with as a notable absurdity and inconvenience that will befall his doctrine of works if we will not say what he sayth viz. If good works bee no part of the Condition of our full justification and salvation who will use them to that end For how it can procure justification as a means and not be the condition therof I cannot conceive Besides his fallacy before noted in arguing from justification and salvation simply and indefinitely taken to a full justification and salvation of his own devising and so controvertibly again from this latter to that former it concerns him to look to the inconvenience and danger which useth and practiseth not to us which use not good works to that end And now is his time to consider that his full justification when hee thinks to possesse it do not evaporate into no justification no salvation Now to make way for the examination of what hee hath more largely to
the integrity and purity of its celestiall endowments Without spot if this be but half Christ which is the other half 2 Or because he understands by whole Christ Christ in the fruits of all his offices as is most probable whether he will deny them to receive whole Christ which apply not all the severall Acts and Fruits of his severall offices to one and the same end but to severall ends to which his wisedom hath appropriated them Suppose a son of some Luke that is a Physician a Minister of the Gospel and a Father in his Family If the sayd son shall make use of the Acts and Fruits of all these Offices of his Father not at all to one end but to the severall ends to which they are proper of his Art and Physick to cure his diseased body of his Gospel-doctrine to illuminate his understanding and heal his wounded soul and of his provision of victuals to preserve his life and nourish his body and not of physick word and bread together for one and the same the nutriment of his body shall this man therefore be said not to own and receive his whole Father but half of him Even so the Offices of Christ are various and his actings in them tend to various ends some to our quickning som to our enlightning some to our justification some to our sanctification c. Do I take but half Christ because I apply not all the Actings and Fruits of all his Offices to my Justification only and none of them to the other honourable ends to which he hath appointed them who can bear the absurdity 3 Whether it be possible for any man according to the rule and tenor of the Gospel by a lively faith to apply to himself the satisfaction of Christs death and yet to remain unpardoned and unjustified or for such a one to abide unspiritualliz'd and unsanctfied If not then the reason why the multitude which profes they trust Christ for the saving of their souls as Mr B. is pleasd to phrase it do remain unjustified is because they profess but have not a lively faith in his death and not as Mr. Br. saith for want of I know not what Moral Theological decompounded phantastical sincerity consisting in laying hold on the half of Christ i. e. either his wounded and not his whole parts or Christ the Mediator not the Mediator Christ I can no better distinguish his meaning sith himself hath refused to do it Of the same nature is that which he hath pag. 328. B. Though some thinke nothing is preaching Christ but preaching him as a pardoning justifying Saviour Indeed among the Turks and Indians that entertain not the Gospell it is necessary to preach his pardoning office yea and the verity of his Natures and Commission Therefore when the Apostles preached to Jews and Pagans they did first and chiefly teach them the person and offices of Christ and the great benefits which they might receive by him But when they preach as James to be professors of the Christian Faith they chiefly urge them to strive to enter to fight that they may conquer to run that they may obtain to lay violent hands upon the Kingdom c. Either all this relates to Justification or it is meer babble in the Ayr sound without sense or substance as much to his purpose as was his that trudged about all the Town from shop to shop to buy two penny-worth of Circumstance for the cure of his tooth-ach For his quere is whether our Doctrine which teacheth Justification by faith without works do not confirm men in their soul-cozening Faith If all doth relate to justification then let him that can find help me without help I cannot find as much as a grain of reason in all or any part of it such reason at least as befits Mr. Br. who grounds all his Religion upon reason To the first Clause I stand stupified not knowing how to preach Christ to justification but as Christ the Justifier to pardon but as Christ the pardoner or to salvation but as Christ the Saviour Should I preach him as a condemner to justification as an unpardoning Judg to salvation As to his justifying me as he is a Law-giver either there hath been wanting something in Mr. B. dexteriry of teaching or in my docility to apprehend I am yet to be taught this lesson All that he hath said hitherto hath made it but odious and absurd and here hee saith no more to perfect it To that which follows the absurdity of it doth enough confute it self Who can endure to hear that the Apostles when they preached to Jewes and Pagans did and we if we should be sent to preach to the Turks and Indians must first preach Christ alone to justification and so generate in them a soul-ct zening faith But when once they become professors of the Christian Faith then the Apostles did and we must teach them better urging them no longer to cozen their souls with faith in Christ the Saviour but by their own works to justifie and save themselves He that delights in such a Gospel let him be Mr. B. disciple It seems he is angry with James for not helping him erewhile in his great exigency that he singles out him from all the Apostles to father him with this intolerable doctrine But whether James give him herein any relief hath been before examined As for the rest of the Apostles let Paul give the Testimony for himself and them There is one Lord and Mediator Christ Jesus one Faith one Baptisme one Lord and Father of all Ephe. 4. 5. 1 Tim 2. 5. Not two Christs and two Faiths one to cozen at first and the other to save the soul afterward If Paul or an Angell from heaven should preach any other Gospell then what you have heard from me at first while Pagans let him be accursed Gal. 1. 8. Therefore many years after the Romans and Galathians had been professors of the Christian faith he seeks to root them fast by faith alone in Christ and not to start from their first principles reducing such as went a whoring after works to help faith in justifying them pronouncing them accursed and Apostates from Christ that should so fall off from their first liberty in Christ That all obedience yea faith in Christ to all obedience vertue and good works is to be preached and urged upon them that profess the Christian faith is so true that he is but a maimed preacher of Christ that doth it not but all to sanctification not to justification This is the true Preacher of Christ that preacheth Christ to good works not works to win Christ that seeks to bring us into Marriage-union with Christ that we may bring forth fruit to God Rom. 7. 4. Not that we should bring forth bastard-fruit from another that we may be married to Christ But this is not Mr. Brs. business he speaks of fruit to justification To conclude what I have to say to this
learned men turn'd to Popery This shall suffice to have said to the matter of Mr. Brs. Quere But memorable and worthy to be written upon the purest chrystal waters where he that can may read them are the reasons which Mr. Br. annexeth for which this Doctrine hath had a great hand in turning many learned men to Popery viz. B. pa. 329. When they see the language of the Scripture in the fore-cited places so plain that no mortall eye can discern it to the contrary When Illyricus Gallus Amsdorfius c. shall account it a heresie in George Major to say that good works are necessary to salvation And when if Melchior Adamus say true eò dementiae impietatis ventum erat ut non dubitarent quidam haec axiom ata propugnare Bona opera non sunt necessaria ad salutem Bona opera officiunt saluti Nova obedientia non est necessaria When even Melanctons credit is blasted for being too great a friend to good works though he ascribe not to them the least part of the work or office of Christ And when to this day many Antinomian teachers who are magnified as the only Preachers of free grace do assert and proclaim That there is no more required to the perfect irrevocable Justification of the vilest Murtherer or Whoremaster but to believe that hee is justified or to be perswaded that God loveth him And again p. 331. This Doctrine was offensive to Melancton Bucer and other moderate Divines of our own What of all this and what is the issue at last Therefore these learned men with great learning and wisedom took the advantage Cum ratione in sanire like a pampred horse with a fly in his tayl to catch the snaffle in the teeth and in great indignation to runn mad to Rome Who els but Mr. Brs. learned men could have expressed so much grace and wit And it seems they were all fellow-students in the same School els could not their good wits have jumpt together upon so pretty a slight And it seems Mr. Br. by his exagitation of the damnable doctrines of the Antinomians in our days doth tacitely invite the learned to joyn with him in prosecuting the same learned device As to the matter of these severall particulars somwhat yet not much is needfull to be said 1 To that of George Major c. Mr. Br. here discovereth fully what elswhere in this his Tractate he doth not totally hide his enmity and swelling against the first reformation of the Churches by Luther and others that hee accounts it a schismaticall defection not a due reformation Hee spares the names of Luther Zuinglius Calvin c. lest his spitting in their faces shâ—uld make his own odious to all knowing Christians But the Doctrine which he reprehendeth under the names of Illyricus Gallus Amsdorfius c. he knows to be the frme which those former Divines which all the Protestant Churches have taught and propugned Concerning Gallus either what he was or what he did I can give no account Illyricus is reported by some to have been somwhat hot and heady in prosecuting all that he undertook but that at any time he entred the lists with George Major I find not This I find that they both lived and conversed together at Jenes in the same University and were both adversaries to Strigelius a famous Divine unto whom between them they procured great persecution But Amsdorfius was one of those eminent instruments of Christ in the reformation who bare the burden and heat of the day was a Colleague with Luther in the University of Wittenberg at the first dawning forth of the Gospel his yoke-fellow in the laborâ— and in the sufferings of the Gospel both in prosperous and difficult times one and the same Holding fast the same principles which were laid in his heart while a young man even to his old age and death which God prolonged untill the 88. year of his age I know not any one professed Protestant that hath aspersed him for any thing that in all that time of so long a life he either committed or omitted as unworthy of a learned and faithful Minister of Christ until the candor of M. Br. hath now done it Truth it is that George Major in his time about a hundred years sithence when Luther was dead not daring so to do while he was living set forth some propositions and disputations of the necessity of good works to salvation and finding himself quickly encountred he after more fully explained himself or rather endeavoured to make his Doctrine the more smooth to be swallowed by allaying it thus That we are justified by faith only but not saved without works So that good works are necessary though not to justification yet to salvation At this his Doctrine as all the Churches and their Ministers were much offended so were there many that confuted it among others Strigelius Wigandus this Amsdorfius who wrote against him his Bona opera officiunt saluti Good works are hinderances of salvation A proposition I acknowledg not well sounding in words but the substance of Treatises is not to be judged alway from their Titles This work of Mr. B. hath a golden Title Aphorisms of Justification untill a man hath read the Book he would have supposed from the Title they had bin Aphorisms to maintain not to destroy Justification by free grace So on the other side the Paradoxical sound of Amsdorfius his titular position doth in no wise deny his Treatise thereon to be orthodox except Mr. Br. can produce any thing thence to prove that he affirms good works in themselves to be so and not only in the sense wherein George Major affirms them necessary to salvation Or why this Assereion stifly maintained by George Major should not be counted a heresie in him as well as in the Papists or the Pharisees before them I see no other reason but this that then Mr. Br. having more worthily deserv'd than he will be thought fit to be honoured with the Title of Doctor in the same profession 2 To that of Melchior Adamus I say no more but that the Testimony of an Adversary without proofes is unworthy or at least incompetent to bow our belief to it What wresting and curtilating there is of their sentences whom in this case such men would defame is obvious to every mans notice He should in stead of his Individuum vagum his quidam have named some singular persons at least have quoted some of their writings in which they have propugned such assertions that we might have searched and found whether it were so if he would have been believed Otherwise if these things were only for disputations-sake handled in the Schools this argues not the propugners to be of that judgment 3 What he saith of Melancton and Bucer whether it be true or false is of the like moment Be it that some crazie brains or corroding sonns of Momus with whom the world too much at all
both Covenants denying any usefulness to Faith it self in justifying but as it is a deed and morall work Let Babel it self be raked from end to end there will not be found more confusion The Papists say doing and works as works and doing cannot be our righteousness to justifie us But as they receive purification from the blood and grace of Christ so they obtain acceptance with God and becom our righteousnes to justifie us Christ say they hath merited that our fulfilling of the Law should justifie us Mr. Br. saith nay but our fulfilling the works which the Law requireth meriteth that we should receive Christ to Justification as we shall see by and by Let now any rationall man judg which party doth most confound the Covenants he that makes the works of the Law in and for themselves as they are simply done meritorious to Justification or they that ascribe nothing to works but what they have from Christ Both I acknowledg are to be abandoned but the deeper grain of self-extolling the more sensuall lusting after the flesh-pots of Aegypt is in Mr. Brs. Doctrine Let none object that Mr. Br. attributes it not to works as works of the Law but of the Gospel himself knoweth and hath learned that poor shift of the Papists and that they come off handsomer with it upon their then it is possible for him to do upon his principles Bax. 3. They are sottishly ignorant in the Doctrine of Justification so am not I. This I conceive he puts as a third difference between his and their doctrine For what he saith under this third particular that when they say justified they mean sanctified that he had made before the first difference If this be the difference then is he much more guilty than they I obtained mercie because I did it of ignorance saith the Apostle implying that they which did it maliciously against the light of their own understandings were excluded from mercy He that knoweth his fathers will and doth it not shall be beaten with many stripes Yet I conceive Mr. Br. means here the Schoolmen of ancient times of Barbarism not the Jesuits Arminians Socinians and other Scholastick Phylosophick Theologasters of these later times For these are so knowing in Mr. Brs. account in the doctrine of Justification that hee hath borrowed all his knowledg and doctrine from them And why the former should be esteemed more sottishly ignorant in this than in other no lesse mysteriall doctrines of the Gospel I know not In thingt naturall and morall indeed they wrote as learned Philosophers so farr as refined reason could conduct them But in things purely Evangelicall saving about the persons and natures of Christ which they also handled more Metaphysically than Theologically besides some fragments gathered out of Augustine I could hardly ever meet with a sound piece in such of them as have come to my reading There may be a time when Mr. Br. may recant his profit and delight in dipping holy waters from the muddy streams contemning the pure fountain of the Gospel Or if he puts the difference in the former words Bax. 3 When they say we are justified by the works of the Gospel they mean onely that wee are sanctified by works that follow Faith and are bestowed by Grace they meriting our inherent Justice before God And in that which standeth as it were in a fourth place Bax. They take our works to be part our legall I take it only a part of our Evangelicall righteousnes or of the condition upon which Christs righteousness shall be ours Not to except here against his maimed alleadging of their opinions thereby feigning a distance from them that hee might allure his readers without suspition to joyn as neer with them as himself Let us take it for truth what he saith of them and then let the indifferent Reader judg 1 Whether is the most arrogant Doctrine the Papists that say works that follow and are the fruits of Faith and are done in the strength of grace supernaturally infused into the soul do merit or Mr. Br. that saith works as concauses with not fruits of Faith that flow from no other grace but Pelagius his morall Suasion without any Physicall renovation and change upon the will as for distinctions sake some of our Divines are wont to express themselves do so merit If Mr. Br. mean any thing els by grace he conceals it as a mysterie from us and will not throughout his whole book give one hint at it but makes man in his own naturall and morall qualifications the meriter of his own Justification by Christ 2 Or which ascribes most to works they that attribute to them inherent justice which is the lesser or hee that ascribes to them the meriting of Christs imputed righteousnes which is the greater Concerning legall and Evangelicall Righteousness I have spoken enough before And the phrase of the Papists and Mr. Br. is one and the same herein This might suffice to take off this delusion from his Readers that his Doctrine is not Popish But to manifest more fully in the sight of the Sun that every one may run reading it and read it running how grosly and in how many particulars his Doctrine is Papisticall I shall draw out in a parallel his Doctrine and the Doctrine of the Papists setting them side by side that whosoever will by comparing them may determine whether there be any worse Popery from Rome it self than from Kedderminster This I shall make the subject of the next Chapter CHAP. XVI The Doctrine of Mr. Baxter and of the most Trentified and Jesuitized Papists compared together in many particulars and found one and the same The Doctrine of the Papists and of Mr. Baxter compared together in many particulars in their Relation to Justification PAPISTS 1. THere is a two-fold Justification a first and a 2d. Justification the one inchoate unperfect more properly to be termed the beginning or root of and a disposition to justification or being justified than Justification it self or our being fully justified before God 2 The first justification is by the first grace given before all good works for the remission of sins for the meer merits of Christ to Infants by baptism to them that are of Age by Faith The second justification is by new obedience and good works by which the faithfull deserve increase of Righteousness to their fuller Justification 3 Good works are the condition of Justification without which Christs satisfaction is not applyed to us Of this opinion Bellarmine affirmeth some of his fellows to be and finds no fault with it or them onely himself takes up what seem'd to him more probable Himself also speaks to the same purpose The Gospel promising life upon condition of actuall working Righteousness which consists in keeping the Commandents 4 It is false therefore that we are justified by Faith onely the Scriptures no where affirm it let him be accursed that shall say it Many other graces vertues and
through the Redemption which is in Jesus Christ and by their very receiving of him should obtein power to become the sonns of God notwithstanding all their former pollutions without all prejacent qualifications in them to purchase so great a Redemption Such was the doctrine preached to them and in the embracing and professing of this Doctrine and their Faith in Christ the alone redeemer they were first admitted into Christ gathered into Churches and so continued a while stablished in this truth with the joy of the Holy Ghost abounding in them The persons against whom he disputeth were chiefly if not onely the False Apostles of the Circumcision who also professed the Faith of Christ and preached it not the unbeleeving Jewes for these should not have had any such audience from the Churches But such as went out from the Apostles and the Church that was at Hierusalem to preach Christ Act. 15. 24. Such as came from James Gal. 2. 12. Such as boasted themselves to be of Câ—phas to hold forth the doctrine of Peter 1 Cor. 1. 12. Such as preached Christ of envie strife and contenâ—iâ—n not sincerely but under the luâ—e of so holy a name to take the advantage to deceive Phil. 1. 15 16. Who not labouring to gather Disciples to Christ out of infidelity as the Apostles had done entred into the severâ—ll Churches before stablished by the Apostles troubling them with words subverting their souls teaching them that they must be circumcised and keep the Law of Moses els they could not be saved Act. 15. 1. 24. And these were of the Sect of the Pharisees which beleeved Act. 15. 5. Emissaries out of those Many thousands or rather Myriads of the Jewes at Hierusalem which beleeved yet were all zealous of the Law Act. 21. 20. Had the Apostles dispute been against such as had apostatizâ—d from the profession of Christ and against such unbeleevers as had seduced them from trusling on Christs imputed to rest upon their own inherent righteousness for justification iâ— had not been besides the purpose to have it his question as Mr. Br saith whether it be Christs righteousness or our own righteousness that we must plead against the accusations of the Law But seeing both the seduced and seducers with whom he dealeth were such as professed faith in Christ as their justifier and Saviour and questioned onely whether Faith alone or els their righteousness works also together with Faith were required to inright them to Christs righteousnes and salvation it had been impertinent if not ridiculous to have made it his question what the proper righteousnes is by which we are justified For this had been to decline and not to prosecute the question between him and them They would have granted him all that he concluded without the least dammage to their Cause Therefore his question was principally By what means we come to partake of the righteousness of Christ to Justification 2 Let the Apostle himself give his Testimony what his principall question was For he better knew his own minde than Mr. Br or my self And first in his Epistle to the Romans having for an introduction to the question in the three first Chapters proved both the Jewes with all their legall and the Gentiles with all their naturall righteousness and unrighteousness to be under sin guilt and condemnation he no sooner in the third Chapter begins to speak of the mean of their recovery Christ Jesus but he annexeth also by what means we come to have right in him In both which he no less Contradicteth Mr. Br than if he had seen before what Mr. Br hath written so many ages after Or the former he affirmeth that we are justified as by Christ so by the Redemption which is in Jesus Christ as he was set forth to be a propitiation or expiatory sacrifice for our sinns Rom. 3. 24 25. Not as Mr. Br before so stoutly Contended as he is our Lord i. e. in his sense our Lawgiver Of the latter that it is faith alone that makes this redemption and Propitiation ours to Justification namely Faith in his bloud Faith without the deeds of the Law Faith which excludeth without works which include boasting ver 25 27 28. And this faith in the death of Christ without works without deeds cannot include in it Morall works and righteousness unto Justification as Mr. Br would extort from it elsewhere by making Christ as our Lord and Lawgiver the object of Justifying Faith At length he Concludeth ver 30. that both in them which have some seeming and plausible qualification of righteousness and works and in them that have it not it is not that righteousness of their own but Faith which Justifieth And that this Faith is no less effectuall to the justifying of them that unto that very day have been ungodly than of them which from their very birth have seemed to be holy to the Lord. So much is Comprehended in those words of the Apostle It is one God which Justifieth the Circumcision by faith and the un-circumcision through Faith In these words is included the whole State of Pauls question The Apostle writing to the Church that was at Rome Consisting of beleeving Jewes and Gentiles endeavours to heal the divisions Close the breaches and settle a sweet union and Communion between them This he applyeth himself unto first in that great and fundamentall point of Christianitie viz. Justification by Christ in which they dissented Both Jewes and Gentiles acknowledged Justification and salvation to be by Christ alone but in this they differed The Jewes Confined this salvation by Christ to themselves alone that to them onely he was promised that they alone were qualified and in a capacity to receive him and the benefits that are by him That he came to be the Saviour of his own hallowed people that had waited for him not of the common and unclean Pagans that were aliens from the Common wealth of Israel and strangers from the Covenant of promise To this purpose they boasted of their Naturall Faederal and personall righteousness and holines qualifying them for the Justification which is by Christ of all which the Gentiles were destitute Their naturall Righteousness and holiness that they were Jewes by nature and not sinners of the Gentiles the seed of Abraham the holy stock to whom and whose seed the promise was made Their Faederall holines That they alone of all nations were in Covenant with God and did bear the badge and seal of the Covenant Circumcision in their Flesh by which they were distinguishd from all other people as holy to God when all other Nations under the Sunne were an abhomination in his sight Their Legall holiness that they had the Law Word and Oracles of God Committed to them all other Nations being left without Law without God and without hope in the world Their personall and Actuall righteousness that in reference to this holy Law of God they had walked exactly kept it from their youth
required to justification Or Mr. Br. that without craving leave of Paul by such gross distinetions goes about to make him unsay what he hath said and the world to believe that in all what he wrote of Justification hee meant to be understood on the contrary to what hee speaketh 6. If we bring works at all to procure justification by Christ we do by evacuating the grace of God and merits of Christ to our selves oblige put a bondage upon our selvet to fulfil the whole Law legally in its perfection else can we never be justified but abide under the Curse for ever For he that worketh requireth the reward as a debt in law and not as a gift of grace therefore except his work be so perfect as that it can in strict justice save him hee can never attain salvation as by comparing together these Scriptures will be evident viz. Gal. 5. 3 4. 3. 10. Rom. 4. 4 5. 9. 30 31 32. 7. As to the rules or qualifications which he gives to covenanting and obedience that it may be sincere they are in substance meerly legal the Name of Christ being only put in stead of the Name of God And who is there not only of the Jesuits Socinians with the Arminians from whom he borroweth most of his principles but even of the reall Antinomians whom he pretends to oppose who in all those particulars thinks not himself or gives not cause to all to think them as sincere as Mr. Br what ground have we to conclude but that they know the ends nature and conditions of the Covenant so truly and obey with so much deliberation and as little fittishness and rashness so seriously without dissimulation and slightness so freely intirely and singly aâ— Mr. Br. doth Thus every stigmatized Heretick in his own way bringing with him such a sincerity of obedience shall thereby be possessed of the investiture of Christs righteousness though he seek it in his own not in Gods way by his own righteousness and not by Faith alone which alone God hath stamped with an aptitude and efficacy to this work B. 2. The Law saith he requireth obedience and doing by its own righteousness to justifie us but the Gospel requireth it as a Medium to acquire to us Christs Righteousness by which wee may be justified So that the one requires works to justifie us withoutt the other the same works to justifie us by a Mediator This he saith so frequently in substance that it were lost labour to quote the places And it hath been almost so oft answered as said Therefore I shall referr the Reader to the places where it hath been answered and specially to the examination of those his disputes in which he labours to cleer his doctrine from all tincture of Popery from all contradiction to Paul and from being derogatory to Christ his righteousnes Here only I add that this doctrine is the same with that of the most legal Pharisees against whom the Apostle so much inveigheth wishing them accursed cut off for troubling the Churches therwith Gal. 1 9. 5. 12. For they arrogated to themselves alone part in Christ his Righteousnes because of their own personall righteousness in the works and obedience which the Law requireth resisting the Gentiles denying to them all possibility to partake in the Justification which is by Christ by means of Faith alone except they also fulfilled the righteousnesse which the Law required to give them right to him and it Yea Mr. Br. with these ascribes more to works than the very unbeleeving Pharisees For these claymed Justification only by their works but he and the beleeving Pharisees challenged for their works right both in the Justifier and in his justification also For Causa causae est etiam causa causati As farr as they ascribe to their works a Causality to make Christ theirs they make them causal to render the Justification which is by Christ theirs also B. 3. That neither is his Doctrine legall nor doth he ascribe too much to works because he maketh Faith and obedience to be but a Condition or a Mâ—dium or a poor improper Causa sine qua non of our Justification Aph. pa. 223 224. and our doing no part of satisfaction for our unrighteousness for this hee seems to have ascribed before to our sufferings in bearing the Curse but to be our Gospel-Righteousness or the Condition of our participation in Christ who is our legall Righteousness so of all the benefits that come by him App. p. 78. I say that subjection and obedience justifie 1 Not as works simply considered 2 Nor as legall works 3 Nor as meritorious workes 4 Nor as good works which God is pleased with 5 But as Conditions to which the free Law giver hath promised Justification and life Nay your i. e. the Protestants doctrine ascribeth farr more of the work to man than mine For you make Justification an effect of your own Faith and your faith an instrumentall cause of it and so make your self your own Justifier And you say your faith justifieth as it apprehendeth Christ which is the most intrinsicall essentiall consideration of Faith so faith hath much of the Honour But while I affirm that it justifieth only as a condition which is an extrinsicall consideration and alien from its essence and Nature I give the glory to him that freely giveth mee life and that made so sweet a condition to his Covenant and that enableth me to perform the said Condition App. pag. 120 121. All this hath been oft and fully examined before in its place also and how little truth there is in any part or parcell thereof discovered It would be weariness to the flesh and vexation to the Spirit but to look so often upon his great Goddess his Queen of Heaven CONDITION as he blesseth her O that his conscience had been so well acquainted with Christ as his fancy is with this Idoll he would not then have pestered the Church with such an imaginary Deity nor prostituted all that is called God at the feet of such a Proserpina I am weary any more to attend to him making the will of God i. e. God willing conditional and so the immutable God a conditional God the salvation of Christ conditional so Christ a conditional Saviour or the witness seal of Christ a conditional seal and witness and so the Holy Ghost a conditional Spirit of Adoption or the gospel of righteousness forgiveness and life a conditional Gospel and consequently nulling all thâ—se and pronouncing them no God no Christ no Holy Ghost no Gospel For a conditional proposition doth Nihil ponere and after Mr Brs. principles it is in mans righteosness to give or destroy the actual existence of every of these But I leave to him that delights therein to bury himself in this guâ—ph I conceive my self obnoxious to censure for spending and spilling so many words already to shew the deformity and
Gospel Condition and necessary Antecedents to be really but a Cloke to hide his diminution of Christ and exaltation of sinfull man A Syrens song to draw poor souls to dash against the Rocks and be drowned in the gulph Why had he not made our works conjunctly vvith Christs satisfaction in his Thes 56. the procatarctick and meritorious cause of our Justification as well as he doth the satisfaction of Christ conjunctly with our Faith or obedience in the same Thesis the Causa ssne qua non thereof Had he so done could he have ascribed more to vvorks under the name of a Meritorious cause then he doth under the title of a poor improper Causa sine qua non But by so doing he should have shewed himself in the light when contrariwise he that doth evill hateth the light neither cometh to the light lest his deeds should be reproved Let now any of his Disciples produce I will not say one Arminian but one Socinian Papist yea or Jew that ascribes more to works then this man in derogation from Christ and Grace else let him cease to be a follower of him or openly and ingenuously profess that he followeth him as a Jew Papist or Socinian and consequently that he hath made not Mr. Br. but Mr Brs Masters his Master also in the doctrine of Justification And that in advancing self so high as to affirm he meriteth no less fully and properly then Christ himself hath or could have done For his merits are in order to Gods ordinate not naturall justice But to shew the vanity of his distinction here how carelesly he eludeth the holy Scriptures as meer shaddows and play-games the Apostle denyeth man in this or that or in any sense to be justified by works He saith not Not by works as the efficient or meritorious cause or as the Medium or Antecedent or Condition or Causa sine quâ— non lest any man should boast but positively and peremptorily not by Works as by Faith yea not by works in any acceptation upon any score and accompt Mr. Brs chippings therfore have no more force then a chip to make the Holy Ghost to unsay what he hath said And it is as good sense as if I should say Mans bread doth not apparrell him as it is the maker or matter or instrument or merit of his clothing but as it is the antecedent or medium or condition or Causa sine qua non of his apparrelling when contrariwise it doth not at all in any sense apparrell him CHAP. XXIV Mr. Baxters Sophism to prove that his Doctrine of Justification by Works doth not at all derogate from the Doctrine of Faith examined and found to be meer vanity BEcause the Scripture attributeth Justification to Faith without works and to Faith in opposition to works excluding works and requiring Faith alone to apprehend the Righteousnesse which is by Christ and denominating it the Righteousnesse of Faith Rom. 4. 11. The Righteousnesse which is of Faith Rom. 9. 30. 10. 6. in opposition to the Righteousnesse of works He easily seeth that he shall be excepted against for his antiscripturall doctrine in making Faith and works Concomitants in the same kind of causality and procurement of Justification Therefore he makes it his sixth task to vindicate this his doctrine from all derogation from Faith and from all unscripturall confounding of Faith and works together To prove himself as innocent in this as in all the rest he brings these Reasons B. Thes 62. 1 Because though he makes Works and Faith to be the Conditions of our Justification yet according to Scripture phrase Faith may be called the onely Condition of the New Covenant 1 Because it is the principall Condition and works but the lesse principall And so as a whole Countrey hath oft its name from the chief City so may the Conditions of this Covenant from Faith 2 Because all the rest are reducible to it Either being presupposed as necessary Antecedents or means or conteined in it as its parts properties or modifications or else implyed as its immediate products or necessary subservient means or consequents All without Book one of Mr Brs Mysticks that hath no one sound of Gods word patronizing or favouring it Witnesse Mr. Br. who neither in his Thesis nor in its Explication hath alledged one Scripture to make it good Is Pythagoras come among us in a new body speaking nothing but Parables and Paradoxes which vulgar capacities can no more comprehend then they can Plato's Idea's or Democritus his Atomes If so it shall be needfull for him to injoin upon his Schollars as he did of old five years dumbnesse or silence Els if the mouth of a very Asse should be open it would rebuke the madnesse of the Prophet for delivering things so contradictive to the word to himself and to reason 1 To the word and the Holy Ghost speaking by it who every where opposeth Faith and works as to Justification making them to exclude not to infer or imply either the other By faith therefore not at all by works not by works therefore by faith alone But this man puts them in a conjunction makes Faith and works together the Condition of our justification from thence to conclude that Faith is the onely Condition and justifieth alone So much a greater Artist is Mr. Br. then the Holy Ghost and so ambitious of the praise of wisedome that he thinks himself to be but a vulgar idiot if his wisdom be not stretched Nine whole words by measure beyond and above the wisedom of the Holy Ghost 2 Contradictive to himself For Aph. p. 300. He denyeth that which he calleth an idle Concomitacny of works with Faith that they onely stand by while Faith doth all and concludes that they act together with faith in the same kind of causality to procure Justification and so denyeth that we are justified by Faith onely Here contrariwise he denyeth all such co-working of works with Faith but that faith may be said to be the onely Condition and to justifie onely 3 Contradictive to reason also and yet this next to Condition he seems to honour as the greatest God it must be to the Goats and sheep of the mountains not to Christs sheep to men that have reason that Mr. Br. must deliver this doctrine That we are justified not by faith alone but by works also yet it stands nevertheles as a firm Maxim faith is the onely condition or justifieth alone If the lips were shut and sealed up yet reason would use a ventriloquy or force a way thorow the ears to reclaim against such an absurdity If I should so reason of Condemnation the contrary to Justification that when the blind lead the blind and both fall into the ditch when seducers pervert those that are made to be taken and destroyed and so all utterly perish and are damned That tho all are damned yet it is but the leader and seducer alone that is damned he for all that he hath
that gave and as he gave his life for the world and giveth life to the world All works are excluded that this beleeving might be reserved sole entire sacred and soveraign to receive Christ to Justification and salvation Here at length I shall put a period to my Examination of this Tractate of Mr. Br. in which I have not wittingly let passe any one particle of all that he hath brought to the re-erecting of Justification by works without examining the strength and force of it which if he had done in relation to all the Arguments which the Protestant Churches and Divines have brought against it before he adventured peremptorily to pronounce their doctrine Hâ—torodox and Antinomistick and the doctrine of the Papists in this point sound and holy I am of opinion that either this work of his had never come forth to the subverting of souls and troubling of the Church or if it had so come forth it would have been a very abomination to all that are not made to be taken and trampled under foot as an accursed thing But now having begun in that manner as we see to set up this worst piece of damning Popery under a false pretence of love to the Protestant and hatred of the Popish Religion It is not to be expected but that seeing his reputation jeoparded he will per fas nefas proceed to seek the support of it though it be to the further ecclipsing of the Grace of God and honour of Christ CHAP. XXV The Conclusion of the whole Treatise demonstrating that although we with the Scriptures exclude works from Justification yet we include them as necessary to a Christian life and that no less seriously and upon more spirituall grounds than the Evill Workers that will be justified by them HAving ended at present with Mr. Baxter I have for the Conclusion of all somewhat to say that may have relation to the weak reader It is a difficult thing to remove works from justification and not to expose our selves therein to the Censure of babish ungospellized and unstablished men that we therein banish them also from the life and practice of a Christian When we teach that the righteousness of the Gospel is revealed from Faith to Faith as it is written the just shall live by Faith not by works Rom. 1. 17. And that no man is justified by the Law i. e. by the strictest observation of the righteousness of the Law Because it is written that the just shall live by Faith Gal. 3. 11. That the inheritance is by Faith not by works lest any man should boast Rom. 4. 1 2. Eph. 2. 8 9. That it is of Faith that it may be of Grace and if it be of grace then is it no more of works else grace were no more Grace But if it be of works then is it no more of grace otherwise works were no more works Rom. 4. 16. 11. 6. That whosoever seeketh justification and blessedness by works worketh himself out of it and shall never attaine it because they sought it not by Faith but as it were by the works af the Law Rom. 9. 31 32. At the sound of this doctrine the unspiritual man excepteth and flesh and bloud swelleth murmuringly Crying out What profit is it then to serve the Lord Why should I fast pray give alms shew mercy study holines and purity deny my self the pleasures of sinn any more when all these have no â—fficacy in them to justifie and save It was the Clamor of men against Paul when he preached the riches of grace abounding the more by the abounding of Mans sinns We will therefore sinn said they that Grace may abound Rom. 6. 1. And do evill that good may come Rom. 3. 8. This doctrine of Faith makes voyd the Law loosing us from all obligation to perform the holines and righteousness which the Law requireth Rom. 3. 31. And as Mr. Br. teacheth them further to reply against God tendeth to drive obedience out of the world For if it be denyed that man can merit happiness by his own righteousness he will cease to be righteous and take the bitt in his teeth to run rebell So deep an impression hath the Covenant of works yet still in mans heart that though he be insufficient to do or to think as he ought 2 Cor. 3. 5. yet he will have Do and Live to be the issue of Life and Death still And Mr. Br. teacheth them to stopp the hole of mans insufficiency with this nayl not of the Sanctuary but of Alexander the Copper-Smith because we cannot perform legall therefore Gospel-obedience shall do the work as if work were not work when the Title of Gospel is written on it and because we cannot fullfill perfect therefore sincere obedience shall serve the Turn Hence is it that the Popish and Arminian doctrines wherewith this Book of Mr. Br. is fully fraughted takes every where so plausibly with and hath such Compleat acceptance among the multitude both of the learned and unlearned It is a doctrine not above but agreeing with the principles of Nature and the naturall man even the naturall Conscience suggesteth it to the unlearned to seek for happiness by their own righteousness And both that and the precepts of Moral Philosophy also together with the Law of Moses instruct the learned to seek for the Summum Bonum the best felicity all felicity in the way of vertue and vertuous performances Here now when any comes to them in the name of Christ holding forth to them the same doctrine it kindles in them so swiftly as fire in towe no need of the teaching of God or renewing of the Spirit Flesh and bloud of it self gives its suffrage to it An easie task have these teachers to perswade men and draw disciples after them and set them in an activeness and dexterity of practicing what they teach It is easily learned to swimm swiftly with the stream and to drop the Bowle down the hill But to teach men to live by Faith and yet to be fruitfull in good works too Not to seek justification and life by their righteousness yet to be zealous of all righteousnes and good works continually hic labor hoc opus est It is above the principles of Nature to apprehend it He must swimm against the stream and roll the Bowl against the Hill walk after the Spirit and not after the Flesh that puts it effectually into practice Yet that our Doctrine doth not let loose the reins to the flesh nor howsoever carnall sensuallists may abuse it to their Condemnation in the least degree blunt the spirits of the spirituall man to well-doing nor deny the both expediency and necessity of all good works in the life of a Christian is evident 1 Because although we exclude morall qualifications and works from officiating to Justification yet we retein and include them in and unto sanctification Our doctrine with Christs and his Apostles holds forth the Lord Jesus to every soul
or else be free and absolute and in what sense it may be granted to be Conditional pa. 1. p. 108. to 118. The numerousnesse and withall unprofitablenesse of the Conditions which Mr. Br. assigneth part 2. p. 31 32. His vain ascribing to Conditions part 2. p. 26 83 108 109 c. 272 273. His Reasons to prove it examined part 1. p. 353 to 356. The hurtfullness of the contrary doctrine which Mr. Br mainteineth part 1. p. 351-353 His dispute to prove it still after we are in Christ to remain Conditional par 1. p. 292. to 308. VVhat the judgment of the Protestant Divines in this point is part 2. p. 17 to 22. 204 205. The promulgation offer of it may be granted Conditionall but once in being and possession it is absolute part 1. p. 355 356. The rashnesse of some Ministers in closing with Mr. Br. in this his Popish Arminian doctrine pa. 2. p. 22 23 25 237. Whether the Covenant of Grace were originally made between the Father and the Son and what the Covenant was and upon what terms so made p 1. p. 99. to 107. What relation all the other Covenants made in time between God and man had to this ibid. Mr Br. after the Papists distinguisheth between the Commands and Counsels of the word part 1. p. 213 214. The doctrine of Justification by Faith alone not a soul Cozening doctrine p 2. p. 173 c. Beleevers not under the Curse as the Curse or revenging punishment for sin part 1. largely discussed from p. 24. to p. 61. The Question stated ib. p. 32. c. The Reasons brought by the Protestant Writers to prove the Negative against the Papists ib. p. 33. to 37. Mr. Brs Arguments for the Affirmative ib. p. 29-31 His Arguments answered ib. p. 38. to 49. How many wayes popish and pernicious this his doctrine is ib. p. 49. to 62. D Darkening in stead of cleering Truths common to Mr. Br. with the Papists part 1. p. 5 9 10. The Death and blood of Christ onely expiatory and satisfactory to Justification part 2. p. 64 65 67. to 70. VVhether Justification admit of Degrees or magis minus part 1. p. 286. to 291. VVhether the Devil shall manage the accusation of men in the day of Judgement part 1. p. 281. Distinctions in Divine matters not grounded upon the word viz. Arts Sophistry Doctrines not to be judged of after the personall splendour of their Authors pref p. 4 5. Doe viz. Life and Live E VVhether it be Easie to perswade men to embrace Justification by Faith but difficult by works part 2. p. 181. to 184. Sanctification a sure Evidence of Justification so convertibly pa. 2. 176. to 178. In what respects good works do so Evidence ib. F Faith without works not competent to justifie according to Mr. Br. part 2. p. 4. How farre he followeth the Papists in the doctrine of implicit Faith part 1. p 1 2 3 c. His doctrine herein directly pointed against the Protestants ib. p. 4. We must not admit doctrine of Faith upon the authority of our Teachers ib. p. 6. The evils attending the doing thereof ib. p. 7 8. Mr. Brs wild and irregular definition of Faith to prove justification by works discovered to be ridiculous pa. 2. p. 56. c. The doctrine of the Protestants about Faith and works part 2. p. 174. c. What Mr. Br. meaneth by Faith or his To credere part 2. p. 71. c. How different Mr. Brs sense is from some of the Protestant writers that with him call Faith the Condition of justification part 1. p. 349 350. Forgiving of others not a Condition of Gods justifying and forgiving us part 2. p. 31 33 c. to the 37. Mr. Brs Fraud in hiding all that the protestants have written against his popish doctrines part 2. p. 17 18. 128 129. G The Genius of men when conspiring is apt to draw each other into truth or error pref p. 10 11. By what means the Gospel was so much and so suddenly propagated at the begining of the Reformation by Luther pref p. 39 40. How the further propagation of it was stopped ib. p. 40 41. Gospel Comforts are Antidotes against sin and carnall liberty not fomenters of it par 2. p. 162 163 167 168. Mr. Brs Reasons to prove his doctrines not to be legall and against the Gospel examined part 2. p. 266. to p. 276. Whether or in what respects Christ hath or hath not satisfied for sins against the Gospel as for sins against the Law p. 1. p. 219-227 Whether works as holpen by Grace justifie part 1. p. 139. to 143. Mr. Br. the papists vainly make this their common plea to excuse their arrogance in ascribing justification to works ib. p. 175 176 H Whether beleevers ought to serve for fear of Hell part 2. p. 155-157 Hiding viz. Fraud I What the judgment of many learned protestant Divines hath been and is about justification as an Immanent and eternal act in God part 1. p. 231. to 238. What Scriptures they bring to prove the affirmative ib. p. 238. to 247. Mr. Brs dispute against them examined ib. p. 248-262 Faith the Instrument of justification p. 1. p. 330. And the some both Gods and mans Instrument and in what sense each is such ib. p. 332 334 336 to 341. Mans Instrument 334-336 342-348 Mr. Brs cavils against this doctrine answered ib. p. 358. to 361. 364. to 368. 370. Whether believers as well as the reprobates shall be judged for according to their works in the last day largely discussed against Mr. Br. p. 2. p. 124-136 Whether the Scriptures which speak in the future tense of justifying do denote the day of Judgment p. 1. p 278-280 Judgment viz. Devil 282. The State of the question between Mr. Br and the Protestants about Justification by works Part 2. p. 4 5 6. Justification by works denyed ibid. c. Scriptures produced to prove that Workes have no part with Faith in justifying ibid. p. 10. to 17. The Scriptures cited by Mr. Br to prove the contrary assertion examined ibid. Chap. 3. VVhether according to his own principles he rightly calleth Faith the more and works the less principall Condition of Justification ibid. p. 49. 51 278 279. And if so whether this proveth that when we are said to be justified by Faith onely we are said to be justified by works also and yet justified by Faith alone ibid. Or whether the Reducibleness of all works to faith in some kinde prove it ibid. p. 49 50 52 53-56 278 279. Justification considerable in 3 respects 1 in God 2 in Christ 3 in our own persons and how in every of these Part 1. p. 89 -91. Mr. Brs distinction of justification and pardon into Title of Law and sentence of Judgement Constitutive and Declarative virtuall and Actuall examined and proved unscripturall and vain and his reasons to prove a Justification in the day of Judgement answered
VVhether the inherent Righteousness of Beleevers be perfect Part 1. p. 181 to the 186. Whether Faith as our Righteousness Justifie Part 1. p. 366-368 S. What to judge of some passages that fell from Mr. Saltmarsh his pen. Part 1. p. 138. Salvation twofold the state of Grace and of Glory Part 2. p. 104 105. In the former sense it is the same with Justification ibid. p. 105. Whether in the latter sense it runs upon the same Conditions with Justification ibid. p. 105 Mr. Brs arguing for the affirmative proved fallacious and invalid ibid. p. 102 oth e 1 12. The Scriptures which he alledged to prove works the condition of Salvation found incompetent and invalid to prove it ibid. p. 116. to the 123. As soundly may we argue from Justification to Salvation that it is universally conditionall as convertibly p. 1. p. 331. Satisfaction vid. death Schoolmens Learning and studies described Pref. p. 37 38. Mr. Br. pretends to admit the Scripture as Judge in the Controversie of Justification by works but fallaciously Pa. 2. p. 7 8. What Scriptures he produceth to prove Justification by works pa. 2. p. 25 c. These all collected by the Papists to his hands ibid. These severall Scriptures examined whether they make for him ibid. p. 25. to the 48. His calumny that the Protestants wrest and implyedly that the Papists truly expound the Scriptures ib. p 9 85 86 87 89. Whether and in what respects God doth see or not see sinn in his pâ—ople Part. 1. p. 70. to 72. Signes vid. Evidences Similies prove not but illustrate what is proved Part 2. p 172. Sincerity what it is Part 1 p. 210. Whether the Gospel requires Perfection or sincerity onely ibid. p. 208. to the 217. Part 1. p. 270. Reasons ministring doubts of Mr. Baxters much applauded sincerity Pref. p. 5. to the 9. Mr. Brs oft excusing himself from affectation of Singularity true yet examined upon what grounds it is true and that he doth it Part 1. p. 331. Whether and how far Mr. Brs doctrine is tainted with or free from Socinianism part 2. p. 229. to the 234. Mr. Brs Sophistry and the evils thereof discovered p. 1. p. 8. to 21. 284. to 281. Sophisticall distinction how pernicious part 1. p. 180 189 278 382. How incoherent with the mind of Christ ib. p. 350. Whether to affirm that Christ Suffered the idem for us denies pardon and free grace part 1. 229 230. T Tertullians judgment of secular intermixed with Divine learning in Gospel matters pref p. 34 35. The Testimonies of those eminent writers whom Mr. Br. citeth as Patrons of his opinion manifested to be against him not for him part 2. p. 197-208 W Word alone competent to determine in Gospel matters pref p. 16 18. to 21. Works and duties co-ordinate with Faith to justifie according to Mr. Br. part 2. p. 4. what duties and works these are ib. p. 5. In what consideration and sense he makes them to justifie ibid. How far we are justified by them before men viz. Charity Mr. Brs and the Papists arguing from St. James for justification by works examined and refelled part 2. p. 184 to 102. His arrogant ascribing to works under his Causa sine qua non or condition part 2. p. 274-276 VVhether when we are said to be justified by Faith works be comprized in faith part 2. p. 281. to 284. How apt mans nature is to put it self under the Covenant of works part 2. p. 285 286. Mr. Brs untoward question answered whether if God had ordeined any work or vertue to justifie it should not have done it part 1. p. 379. c. In what sense our Divines say God justifieth first the person then his actions pa. 1. p. 193 194. Covenant of works see Law More of works see Life and Live Grace and Justification In what sense and respects the Scripture calleth the Saints worthy part 1 p. 187 188. FINIS
Mr. Baxters APHORISMS EXORIZED AND ANTHORIZED OR An Examination of and Answer to a Book written by Mr. Ri Baxter Teacher of the Church at Kederminster in Worcester-shire entituled Aphorisms of Justification TOGETHER WITH A vindication of Justification by meer Grace from all the Popish and Arminian Sophisms by which that Author labours to ground it upon Mans Works and Righteousness By JOHN CRANDON an unworthy Minister of the Gospel of CHRIST at Fawley in Hant-shire Ipse fecit nos non ipsi nos Ipsi nos justos salvos fecit non ipsi nos August de verbis Apostoli Serm. 11. God forbid that I should glory save in the Cross of our Lord Jesus Christ Gal. 6. 14. Imprimatur Joseph Caryl Jan 3. 1654. LONDON Printed by M. S. and are to be sold by T Brewster at the three Bibles in Pauls Church-yard And L Chapman at the Crowne in Popes-head Alley 1654. ALthough it be matter of a very sorrowfull resentment to see Theologicall warres renewed among Brethren yet it is a duty to contend earnestly for the faith which was once delivered to the Saints And although I heartily wish that in these contentions all personal reflections were layd aside and opinions onely dealt with which latter consideration How-ever this Author I doubt not hath satisfied his owne Conscience and labours much to satisfie his Readers about it hath a little checkt my thoughts in giving an explicite testimony to the worke yet the doctrinal poynts therein maintained and vindicated The present freedome of beleevers from the Curse of the Law and their free justification by Faith without workes yea without Faith as it is a work through the alone satisfaction of Jesus Christ are of such moment and so fundamental in religion for the comfort of poore soules that I cannot but judge any essay tending to the clearing of them much more this large and elaborate discourse profitable for the Church of God and worthy of the publick View The 3d of the 11th month 1653. Joseph Caryl The Printer to the Reader Courteous Reader BY Reason of sickness and many infirmities of Body disâ—bling the Author oft from Revising the Sheets as they came from the Press during the whole time that the Book was in printing The work comes not to thy view without many mistakes in Printing The most considerable of them I have here collected to be amended with thy Pen before thou beginnest to read The rest confisting mostly in mis-pointing and mis-spelling I leave to thy judgement candor to Rectifie in Reading the Tractate M. S. Errata Preface PAge 4. line 1. it is not distinguished by the Italick Character which are Mr. Brs and which the Authors words the quoted place of Mr. Br. will shew it Pag. 10. line 26. for Catalogus read Catalogus p. 14. l. 7. for Tenet r. Tenets p. 17. l. 19. r. intrinseâ—al p. 20. l. 8. r. Communing p. 33. l. 38. to the word Logick add and the Metaphysicks p. 35. l. 2. r. puritate and l. 11 r. Doctrinae p. 36. l. 39. r. for Part 1. Arg. of Cha. 1. for doctrine r. doctrines p. 4. l. 5. r. imagin p. 12. l. 38. r. person p. 19. l. 11. r. stuttering p. 26. l. 35. for nor r. not p. 29. l. 9. for sinns r. sinn p. 39. l. 7. for and r. in p. 45. l. 35. add us p. 64. l. 40. for Covenants r. commandements p. 76. l. 3. for piece r. pierce p. 101. l. 13. r. controvertible p. 140. l. 23. dele in p. 227. l. 40. for for r. to p. 235. l. 13. for united r. merited p. 256. l. 1. for the r. their p. 257. for fruition r. futurition p. 264. l. 3. for innocent r. nocent p. 314. l. 33. for me r. us p. 330. l. 1. for first r. fifth p. 331. l. 30. for vindicateâ—h r. vendicateth Part 2. P. 7. l. 19. for make r. made p. 8. l. 2. for the r. this l. 24. for spitted r. spittled l. 34. for him r. the Reader p. 5. l. ult for latter r. letter p. 11. l. 26. dele not p. 18. l. 26. add them p. 39. l. 32. r. scripture p. 49. l. 26. for as r. or l. 30. dele to p. 51. r. operation p. 54. l. 37. dele the. p. 76. l. 27. for so to r. to so p. 81. l. 9. for heare r. here l. 36. for affection r. affectation p. 87. for in r. upon p. 97. for Mortuum r. mortuam p. 139. l. 2. for is r. is not p. 140. l. 33. for controvertibly r. convertibly p. 203. l. ult to Protestants add that use the word Condition in Justification salvation p. 206. l. 8. for given r. giveth p. 313. for and r. the. p. 240. l. 9. dele there l. 32. for if r. of p. 241. l. 22. for their r. them p. 244. l. 17. for have r. have made p. 212. l. 10. dele end p. 313. l. 12. for and r. he p. 361. l. 6. r. Restriction p. 381. l. 28. for O r. so p. 395. l. 35. for Gratia r. Gratiae ibid for paraeum r. parum p. 382. l. 32. dele and. TO THE REVEREND THE FAITHFULL AND Pious MINISTERS of the Lord Christ within this Nation Much honoured and highly Beloved IT might be Construed self-arrogance that so despicable a person in parts newly broken out of the black Cloud of Obscurity should not onely publish to the world but withall tender so rough-hewen a work to the speciall view scrutiny of them whom Christ hath made and named the Lights of the world But this imputation will appear undeserved to as many as shall consider that what is here presented to so great a fulgor of judgement and learning comes with a request not of Patronage alone but of Correction also Of Patronage where it defends the Truth in the Truth of Correction where it halteth into the defence of error in steed of the Truth or of the Truth but not in the Truth The work it self will sufficiently speak me out not fit to be registred inter Doctos yet hath it been still my study not to commit any thing by which I should deserve to be pronounced indocilis untractable to learn where the Lord holds forth a faithfull Teacher It is the height of my ambition and patheticall heartiness of my humble request not so much to all of you Collectively which is unattainable as to every of you divisively who in these slippery times Honored Worthies stand fast in the truth of Christ to be recalled by you into the way from which you shall finde me any where straying but so that by the Authority of the Word you lead me into it that I may gladly be a follower of such a leader As to the Book to which this answereth whatsoever Fate this shall have in mens judgements surely that must have a stinch with all the judicious and orthodox Neither could it so long have stood unshaken had he not cunningly prepossessed the minds of his
judgment nor to admit any thing what another hath introduced of his will and judgment Apostolos Domini habemus auctores qui nec ipse quicquam ex suo Tertul. l. de prescript advers Haereticos Arbitrio quod inducerunt elegerunt sed acceptam a Christo disciplinam fideliter nationibus adsignaverunt i. e. We have the Apostles of the Lord herein our authors or patterns who neither made choise of any thing from their owne invention to impose upon Christians but faithfully delivered to the Nations the discipline which they had received from Christ So that if an Angel from heaven shall preach any other doctrine let him be accursed And having mentioned some doctrines not of Christs prescribing pronounceth of all such Hae sunt doctrinae hominum Daemoniorum prurientibus auribus natae de ingenio sapientiae saeculi c. i. e. These are Doctrines of men and Devills sprung forth from itching ears of the nature of the wisdome of the world which the Lord calling foolishnesse hath chosen the foolish things of the world even to the confusion of Philosophy it self Ea est n. Materia sapientiae saecularis c. For this Philosophy is the matter of worldly wisdome a rash interpreter of the nature and dispensations of God from it Heresies are suborned And having particularizâ—d what severall heresies have been foysted into the Church from the severall sects of Philosophers and what from all conjoyned and inveighed against Aristotles Logick as an enemie to Christian Religion he thus breaks forth Quid ergo Athenis Hierosolymis Quid Academiae Ecclesiae Quid haereticis Christianis Nostra institutio de particu Solomonis est c. Viderint qui Stoicum platonicum Dialecticum Christianismum protulerunt c. i. e. what then hath Athens to do with Jerusalem the Academy with the Church Hereticks with Christians Our Institution in Religion is out of the porch of Solomon c. Let them look to it that have hatched out a Stoicall Platonicall and Logicall Christianity to us We have no need of curiosity after Christ nor of inquisitivenesse after the Gospel When we believe viz. Christ and his Gospel wee desire nothing beyond believing For this we believe first that there is not viz. in Philosophy or other Arts any thing that we ought to believe unto salvation beyond the Gospel of Christ And a little after he that is not satiâ—fied with the Scripture but seekes further authority from reason and Philosophy his curious inquisitivenesse argues him either not to believe or else to be vain-glorious in seeking after the praise of worldly wisdom therefore annexeth this counsell Cedat curiositas fidei cedat gloria saluti i. e. let curiosity give place to faith and vain-glory stoop to salvation So much and much more not unworthy the reading hath Tertullian in this Book And none will easily affirm that Tertullian condemns that learning which himselfe wanted to hide his own nakedness All his polemicall works or controversall writings declare the contrary specially his book against Hermogenes where having to deale with one that little regarded the Scriptures sets upon him in his own fortresse and assails him with his own weapons and philosophically convinceth the Philosophaster and dialectically the Sophister in his own arts and element confuting and confounding him But some may object that seeing he holds the use of these arts unnecessary and hurtfull to Christian Religion why doth himself make use of them Himself both moves and answers the question else-where and thus puts the question Whether ohere be not some Tertul. de Anima lib. truths to be found in philosophy and 2ly whether a Christian may not in some case make use of it in his disputations His answer is somewhat large the summ and brief of it runs in this tenor That it is not to be denyed but there are some truths delivered by Philosophers in the more common and open things of Divinity i. e. as I granted before in naturall and morall things and those we are to take up not for the authority of the Phylosophers who by the groping light of Nature have by a kind of blind happinesse found out and delivered the same but for the authority of God who by his undeceiving word hath manefested it to us and further that in our disputes with such to whom the prescripts of philosophy are more authoritative and authentick than the oracles of the word when it may be done without prejudice to the word we may retort upon the adversarie his own arguments and stop his mouth with testimonies of Philosophers which to him are most authentick Nevertheless it is the safest and most pious way when wee treat with Hereticks that professe Christians to hold them close to the Scriptures Aufer Haereticis quae cum Ethnicis Tertul. lib. de Resur carnis sapiunt saith he ut de solis scripturis questiones suas sistant stare non potuerint i. e. Take from the Heretieks those arguments which they draw from heathen learning that they may state their questions from the Scriptures alone and they will not be able to stand With Tertullian consented the judgment of the sound and orthodox Fathers which lived after him during the first six hundred years in the Christian Church and my purpose was to demonstrate it from the very words of such of them as I have read but finding the Preface swelling above its measure already and the little or no use which they make of these pieces of learning in their works enough declaring their judgments that they held the same useless and superflouâ— at least in all their writings holding thewselves fast to the word not medling with prophane arts to help or back the Gospel of Christ saving when they were necessitated to disabuse the people in discovering the fallacies of the Manichees Arrians and other sophistical Hereticks I think it more pertinent to ease my self of this burthen By the way only noting that as Julian when he gave his mind once inordinately to the study of philosophy and coveted to be a learned and philosophical Christian did quickly declare himself to be an Apostat and no Christian So the like apostacy no doubt by the like means befell many others though not openly declared And this must needs follow in part upon all such as make not the word to be the whole foundation of their faith but so farr only as it hath reason and philosophy consenting with it But the word of the Gospel is transcendâ—nt above the reach of Philosophy and natural reason they cannot comprehend it to give testimony to it so that to make reason the touch-stone of Gospel-doctrines and truths is the ready way to apostatize from Christ and his Gospel although the self-deceivers declare not their apostacy but profess Christianity still To be a Christian only so far as the very extracts and spirits of natural reason suggest cause so to be is to be a Christian only
thing yet remaineth which I promised to premise viz. what my intention is in excepting against Mr. Baxters book This is not either to oppose him in all things which he hath written therein For sometimes he looks out thorow truths casement that we might take him so a sonn of truth and the less suspect him when he vends his false wares In this case I will not jangle with him whether he speaks truth of envy and subtlety or of good will and sincerity Or 2. in all that shal seem to my judgment Heterodox in his Treatise but only or mainly in those things wherein he joyneth with the Romish Synagogue to maintain their damning doctrine against the truth which is and hath been professed in all the Reformed Churches about Faith and Justification Or 3. in every particular passage wherein he discovers himself in this point to be for Antichrist against Christ for sometimes he delivers himself with such ambiguities and aequivocations like Apollo of old in his Oracles that in pretence of another sense of his words than the more Grammaticall and usuall he may leave a way of issue to himself in case he cannot maintain his words in that sense wherein he would be understood that he may deceive Let it not therefore be thought all granted that shall not be here excepted against and that I approve all whatsoever I do not oppugn For method I desire no other may be expected from me than to follow Master Baxter in order as he hath written and to take up his Paradoxes and most profound and learned mistakes as they fall from him examining them not by the rules of Sophistry but by the touch-stone of the sacred Word These things thus premised we are now to begin to examine the unsavory particulars occurring in the Book it self Mr. Baxters APHORISMS Exorized and Anthorized OR An Examination of and Answer to a Book written by Mr. Rich. Baxter Teacher of the Church at Kederminster in Worcestershire ENTITVLED Aphorisms of Justification THE FIRST PART CHAP. I. Arg. In which Mr. Baxters Popish Doctrine of Implicit Faith is examined and whether the people may admit Doctrine upon trust from their Teachers THE first passage wherein he sheweth himself to smel of Popery in the point of Faith and Justification is before the work it self in the farewell of his Epistle to the Reader pag. antepenult of the Epistle where he doth not obscurely manifest himself to like well enough the Papists doctrine of Implicit Faith and to wish it more favoured and taken up at home among us His words are these speaking to his Congregation Bax. Who I hope do understand that to take upon trust from your teachers what you cannot yet reach to see in its own evidence is less absurd and more necessary than many do imagine A very proper insinuation to a people whom he would have to swallow such Doctrines as in the following Treatise he offers to them to be swallowed As far as he prevails or prevails not with this insinuation so far he hath or hath not men his Disciples This is the very foundation of Antichrists kingdom the authority of men as the foundation of Christs kingdom is the authority of the Scriptures If Mr. Baxter can perswade men to admit and suck in this Doctrine his whole business is finished and all his ends attained If they take upon trust even fundamentall doctrines from their teachers Let Mr. Baxter bring what doctrines he will with him of men and Devils nothing shall be refused all shall be taken upon his Credit By this slight he knew the Pope had gathered and many hundred years held under his vassallage in blind obedience many nations of the earth therefore will not Mr. Baxter baulk it when hee goes about to propagate the Popes doctrine among us But let us see what the Popish implicit faith is and then compare Mr. Baxter with the Papists to see whether there be not in both one mind and spirit The Papists distinguish betwixt Faith and Faith telling us there is an Explicit and there is an Implicit Faith By the Explicit Faith they mean a cleer and distinct knowledg apprehension and believeng of all the Articles and Doctrines of faith which the holy Mother Church of Rome hath prescribed to be received to salvation and that not in a bunch only but in particulars also This Faith they hold needful and expedient in the Clergy as they term their Prelats and Priests who are to rule over more than to teach the people By the Implicite Faith they mean a generall and confused apprehension and believing of all that the Church hath commanded to be taught and believed that it is all good and true though they that so believe know not in particular what the Church hath commanded otherwise than they take it upon trust of their Priests which tell them such and such things are commanded by the Church to be believed This Faith they hold sufficient for the Laity to salvation to believe what the Church believeth and enjoyneth to be true though they neither know what it is nor are acquainted with one least parcell of the word by which they may know it to be true which they have so taken upon trust to believe By the Church they mean the Pope and his Clergy by the Laity the people So that by their Doctrine if the Popes decree things in religion successively never so contrary and contradictory either to other and the titular Clergy follow them and go to Hell for it yet the people have this one supereminent priviledg that their Implicit and Colliers faith saves them as being still the same and unchanged that they believe as the Church believeth though they know not either with the Church or what believing is or what the things are which the Church believeth Compare we now Mr. Baxters words with this popish doctrine and see we if there be any difference I hope saith he you understand When Mr. Baxter saith I hope we are not to doubt but a man of such rare parts hath good grounds for his hope He knew there was means used to make them understand else would he not say I hope you understand and what means but teaching and who should teach them but Mr. Baxter their Teacher But what is it he hopes they understand it followeth That to take upon the trust of your Teachers what you cannot yet see in its own evidence is not c. Here is the Implicit Faith not to ground their opinions and belief in matters of salvation upon the known word of God but upon trust from the Teachers to believe because their Teachers say they belive it And what are the Teachers but what in Popish phrase is termed the Church the Clergy which is in their account at least the Church representative And Mr. Baxter to decline envy useth the plurall number Teachers not as I conceive that the people of Kederminster have more Teachers in ordinary besides himself for he names
and to make his authority the greater to deceive 6. Whether he offends not here and elsewhere against the rule of the Apostle who enjoyneth upon all to take heed of high thoughts of themselves and to be wise to sobriety Rom. 12. 3. i. e. not to mount above their reach and measure And what shall be accounted a wisedom without and against sobriety if not that which intrudeth it self into the things of God which it hath pleased him not to reveal pretending an ability with the key of secular learning to unlock the Cabinet of â—ods Counsells to which the most glorious Angels never dared to approach The Christian Spirit is the meek and modest Spirit where the Scripture is not the instructor contents it self to be ignorant concluding with Tertullian Quis revelabit Tert. lib. de Anima fere in Principio quod Deus texit unde sciseitandum est unde ignorare tutissimum est Praestat per Deum nescire quia non Revelaverit quam per hominem scire quia ipse presumpserit i. e. Who shall reveal what God hath covered whence in such case shall we make enquiry â—ea hence to be ignorant is most fafe It is better not to know by the will of God because he hath not revealed it than to seem to know by man because he hath presumed 7. Whether he doth not cross another precept of the Apostle 1 Tim. 6. 20. peculiarly appropriated to all Ministers under the name and person of Timothy O Timothy keep that which is committed to thy trust avoyding prophane and vain bablings and oppositions of science falsly so called He cannot none can deny the thing committed to Timothies trust to be the Gospel in its verity purity and simplicity This therefore he is charged to keep to make it his business to preserve it alive and inviolated within him to keep and hold himself closely to it without deviating to any other studies as helpfull to salvation Therefore to avoid vain bablings and oppositions of science falsly so called Neither will Mr. Baxter deny and all Commentators affirm the thing to be avoyded here to be sophisticall and philosophical disputes which if intermixed with the Doctrine of the Gospel are here termed prophane and vain babling which hath the name and opinion of science or wisdom in the opinion of men but is falsly so called and reputed Doth not Mr. Baxter here see himself set aside by the Holy Ghost for a prophane and vain babler and his learning and wisdom exploded as shady and false having nothing of substance and truth in it 8. Whether he doth not by this way of disputing as much as in him is uncanonize and make void the word For if he hold with the Apostle that the holy Scripture is sufficient and able to make men wise to salvation through faith which is in Christ Jesus 2 Tim. 3. 15. why doth he not stick to it what els doth his so oft and foul digressions from it to fetch ayd from his sophistry but argue that he holds the Scripture to be invalid to save and that there is either an equall or greater power in his sophistry to make men wise and perfect to salvation 9. Whether it doth not bewray his Cause to be naught that he knows it to be naught therfore seeks to bear it up with such slights feats as a good Cause needeth not When we see a house propped up on every side at every end with posts stakes and pillars who concludes not surely it is a ruinous and rotten building that needs so many supporters It is not for the maintenance of the Aphorism or Doctrine which Mr. Baxter doth here pretendedly explicate that he doth tye knots and unty them bind and loose with such a hurry of questions and distinctions This doctrine stands firm enough upon its own bottom Conscious he is therefore of a rotten building which he means in the following part of this Treatise to erect and therefore furnisheth himself with so many posts and stakes to under-prop it It is well observed by Mr. Pemble out of Erasmus Malè res agitur ubi opus est tot remedijs It is a certain Pemb. of Justis Sect. 2. Cap. 1 p. 37. sign of an untrue opinion when it must be bolstered up with so many distinctions And if the Cause be naught and the defender know it yet persists to defend it then are the Cause and the man both alike 10. Whether this kind of Argumentation doth not declare Mr. Baxter to be of another spirit from Christ and his Apostles Christ came into the world to preach the Gospel to the poor Lu. 4. 18. to give sight to the blind that they which see not might see Joh. 9. 39. And Paul discended low nurslike with flattering speech unto the weak as to babes in Christ feeding them with milk and not with meat untill they became capable to digest it 1 Cor. 2. 1. 4 3. 1 2. likewise also the rest of the Apostles But this man soareth on high unto the upmost region of the Airy element above the kenn and reach of weak Christians such as he acknowledgeth them for the greatest part to be for whose sake chiefly he wrote this speaking not to the comprehension of any save of such windy ones as himself at least to the delight of no other so elevated seems he with the vain-glory of his own excellencies And do not these contrary operations somwhat argue a contrary spirit moving him I mean contrary to that which moved in Christ and his Apostles 11. Whether it tends not to the quenching of the comfort and hazzarding of the salvation of weak Christians 1 to the quenching of their comfort For when from the pure word of God not sophisticated with the intermixture of mans wisedom and inventions they have attained to believe and joy in believing and living by faith in Christ rejoyce in the grace and light of Gods countenance shining upon them thorow him meeting with Mr. Baxters work and finding therein so holy so incomparable a man for learning and piety scattering so many doubts and puzling questions about the very beginning foundation of our redemption that himself cannot answer himself otherwise than by conjectures peradventure it may be thus and it may be it is so The poor souls are apt to fall foul upon themselves for that they have been so audacious to believe any thing seeing now so many doubts and uncertainties and to account all their former joyes in Christ to be a delusion and being unable to make out the mystery of their redemption to themselves in his sophisticall way they lye down and sink under the burthen of their sorrow as hopeless It tends to the hazzarding of their salvation also For while he goes about to make them philosophicall Christians Popish and Socinian Christians to live not by faith but by sense not by the word of Gods mouth but by reason so far only to believe as they see reasons
cannot deny but this opinion was first broached by Socinus and afterward promoted by Arminius But because Mr. Baxter hath taken it up from them end speaks it out in this his Tractate more in the full of the mouth than Mr. Goodwin had done as wee may see afterward Therefore to prevent the like imputation of Socinian and Arminian heresie to himself by his chafe against Mr Walker he affrights all from charging him therewith And yet howsoever he seemeth to decline such an imputation who seeth not that he will yea doth more readily take up a cursed Heresie from any of these learned Sophisters then a blessed truth from such ignorant and unstudied Ministers that glory in nothing but the foolishnes of Christs Cross and dare not to be wise unto salvation beyond the rule of the Gospel Hence he passeth to his third opinion which is wholly one with Page 54. the first in substance and a little dâ—fference onely made in the sound of words for the Question was thus propounded Whether we are justified by Christs passive Righteousnesse onely or also by his active The Assertors both of the first and of the third opinion answer both with one consent we are justified by both Onely Mr Baxter that he may shew his wit and force of his Sophistry that he can at his pleasure exauctorate any Tenet in Divinity laying it all defiled and dead in the dust to be trampled under foot and then give it a resurrection with a new body to shew it self as an eminent and orient Pearl to adorne Christian Religion doth annihilate and vilifie it in one sound of words and after Cannonize it in another And what is the difference betwixt the opinion which he spewes out as filth and garbage and that which he sucks and swallowes as the bread of life and food from heaven Forsooth this only that the one opinion makes the active righteousnes of Christ together with his passive to be imputed to us for righteousnes the other makes the active together with the passive righteousnes of Christ satisfactory to Gods justice to put us into the participation of Righteousnes or Justification A vast difference in sense no less then that was between Doctor Martin and Doctor Luther or that which one put betwixt the operation and working of Pepper that it was hot in the one but cold in the other Mr Baxter knowes that the most judicious Assertors of the first opinion urge no further then to have it granted that the active as well as the passive obedience of Christ is meritorious to our redemption and justification That they are but the more inconsiderate sort that will have it so imputed that we should be accounted before God as those that have fulfilled all the righteousnes and duties of the Law in and by Christ fulfilliing the same Therefore his taking up this opinion as a third opinion under the name of truth is but a taking up again as holy and savory that which before he had rejected as the embryon of ignorant and unstudied brains full of the greatest absurdities But he tels us pag. 55. that for ten years together he held the passive righteousnes onely effectual to justification but since that he hath been converted Should I demand how it came to passe that so Eagle-eyed a man so long doted upon a cloud in stead of Juno and by what means his eyes were at last opened that he saw the delusion and shunned it Himself gives us a hint what to answer and I hope he will not be too angry if we guess so far that our conjecture hath his own conscience if awaked giving consent 1 Then to speak nothing of Mr. Bradshaw whom either by face or writings I never had acquaintance with that great wit Grotius with his deep and sublimated speculationâ— over-poised him in his late reading of him And how hard a thing is it for Mr. Baxter so great an admirer and adorer of humane wit and learning to meet with a brave Sophister indeed and not to close in judgement with him though a Papist an Apostate and more then a Semi-Atheist so far do acute and fine-spun distinctions prevail with him more then the honourable Authority of the plain word of God 2 It is most probable that during these ten years Mr. Baxter held Justification by Faith onely according to the Scriptures and judgement of the Orthodox Churches therefore stuck so long to the Doctrine of Justification by Christs sole passive obedience as cohering very harmoniously therewith But since he hath cast himself into the Channels of Popish Writers and thence derived Justification by works it concern'd him to cast off his former Opinion for the sole passive righteousnes as being much repugnant to Justification by works and to take up this as authentick and somewhat conducing and helpfull to his Cause For if Christs active obedience should not be held meritorious and satisfactory to God with what face could Mr. Baxter attribute a prevalency and power herein to our best works and actions I purpose not to trifle away time and labour to refel this Doctrine or to shew the weaknesse of his fine and plausible Exceptions which he maketh against the Objections that he thinks will be made against it himself knoweth that some of his fore-mentioned Questions being granted and cited Opinions which he neither denyeth nor opposeth would turn his Grotian distinction of idem and tantundem into winde and smoake As for the rest which he speaketh we may grant there is some plausibility but if it were searched to the bottome there would be little of solidity found therein But my purpose is as I have said onely or chiefly to except against his apparently Popish Doctrines and with these he so much aboundeth that I shall not want matter to take up more time and labour then my other Employments can well afford CHAP. IV. What the immediate effects of Christs sufferings are which redound to the Redeemed Whether Believers are under the Curse And whether their Afflictions in this life be a part of the Curs and have the wrath of God in them With Mr. Baxter's Arguments to prove them such IN this ninth Thesis and its Explication Mr. Baxter hewes out crooked timber enough for many of the discreetest Divines to employ their time and labour therein until they are tired and yet they shall not be able at last to straighten it It is like Pandera's box which being opened let out all miseries and mischiefs into the world as the Poets feign Whatsoever the Papists teach of the deficiency and maimednes of Christs and of the necessary supplies of mans satisfaction to be made unto God of Purgatory of the uncertainty of Salvation and many other errors depending upon these are all couched and compassed here within a very narrow circuit some expressed and some implyed But so that while he hasteth to bind together suddenly that he may not be seen so much dreggish Popery in one fardle in his greatest
of our assertion or refuting of Mr. Baxters The Holy Ghost saith not Christ hath purchased to us a liberty for the future that in time we may be delivered from the Curse but he hath redeemed us hath obteined a present freedome for us from the Curse of the Law And how being made a curse for us He hath made present payment that we might have present deliverance Even as a surety making full satisfaction to the Creditor for the principalls debt obteins thereby for him a present discharge from his obligation not that he shall be for a season liable to arrests and imprisonments and after much fear and sufferings in this kinde be at last discharged This were enough but the wisdome of the Holy Ghost proceeds yet further to evidence this truth and to stop every mouth that shall presume to open it self against it That the blessing of Abraham might come even upon the Gentiles beleeving viz. the promise of the Spirit or Spirit promised by faith All must acknowledg that the entrance of the blessing and removeall of the Curse by the vertue of Christs death are coaetanea of one time and standing But the blessing which is the receiving of the Spirit is actually and oft in the beleevers own spirituall feeling existent and working in him assoon as by faith he is united to Christ Therefore also assoon as he is united to Christ he is actually freed from the Curse of the Law Again Rom. 8. 1. There is no condemnation to them that are in Christ Jesus It will not be denyed here that condemnation is either put for or includeth in it the punishment to which the offenders are adjudged or condemned and so the meaning of the words must be this that there is remaining no curse no vengeance to which they that are in Christ might be condemned nor any sentence to adjudge or condemn them to it viz. because Christ hath born both for them and in thier stead This is fully confirmed in the second verse but I forbear to annex it because it is capable of many interpretations which would be too long here to insert but all tending to the Confirmation of this truth laid down in the first verse And if there be no condemnation no vengeance no curse to which beleevers are subject than are they freed from the Curse as well in its parts as in the whole So Rom. 6. 14. Sin shall not have dominion over you for ye are not under the Law but under Grace In what respects shall not Sin have dominion over beleevers It is expressed partly ver 12. It shall not so reign that they should obey it in the lusts thereof And more fully before cap. 5. 21. It shall not so reign as formerly it hath reigned unto death i. e. to expose them to the curse and wrath Why Because they are not under the law but under grace The law denounceth and Gods revenging justice inflicteth the Curse yet upon none besides them which are under the law But beleevers having done their law in and by Christ come no more under the dominion of the law to be cursed by it but ever after they are in Christ they are under Grace at the disposition and under the dispensation of Gods grace from which all blessings but no curse hath its derivation No less absurd therefore is it to say that beleevers are liable to the Curse than to affirm that the Curse is an effect of Gods grace and not of his revenging justice And is there any thing less to be gathered from thapostle affirming Col. 2. 14. That Christ hath blotted out that Hand-writing of ordinances which was against us and contrary to us and taken it away nailing it to his Cross What was there in that hand-writing of Gods lawes and ordinances more against us and contrary to us than the curse but this th'apostle affirms Christ to have blotted out cancelled crucified in respect of any further power that it can challenge over the Saints Or when the promise of God is thus gone forth I will be mercifull to their unrighteousness and their sinns and their iniquities will I remember no more Heb. 8. 12. Who will give any other interpretation to these words but this that God will not be wanting in his grace to remember the iniquitie of beleevers to purg them from it yet he will never more so remember it as to inflict the curse and wrath upon them for it Not to heap up scriptures beyond measure to this purpose I shal conclude with that of the Apostle Rom. 8. 15. Ye have not received the Spirit of bondage again to fear but the Spirit of Adoption whereby we cry Abba Father When was their time of bondage and fear but when they were under the law or what did they fear but the curse death and wrath which the law threatned But now being in Christ freed from the law they have received together with a new Condition or relation a new Spirit a Spirit not of fear but of Confidence not of fear because they have a freedom from the law and curse which before held them all their life time in fear but of Confidence because that being in Christ they are adopted to be the children of God no more to fear the curse from him as a Judge but to dwell upon his mercies as the mercies of an indulgent Father Enough for the confirmation of the first assertion and in all that hath been said there is nothing of the fallacies and querks of mans wit and learning but the very demonstration of the Spirit by the word The proof of the second is included in this If true beleevers are not obnoxious and liable to the Curse and wrath of God it must follow by necessary Consequence that then the afflictions and sorrowes which befall them here are no parts of the Curse or effects of Gods vindicative justice upon them But further to manifest that they are fruits of Gods love and discending from the grace of God I shall annex some Scriptures that give their suffrage hereunto First that in Heb. 12. 5 -8 may stand in stead of all in which the Apostle doth so fully dispute and determine this question as if it had been in his dayes Controverted He will not have us to forget that exhortation which speaketh unto us as to children My son despise not thou the chastening of the Lord neither faint when thou art rebuked of him For whom the Lord loveth he chasteneth and scourgeth every son whom he receiveth If ye endure chastening God dealeth with you as with sonnes for what son is he whom he chasteneth not But if ye are without chastisement whereof all are partakers ye are bastards and no sonnes Three Arguments eminent above the rest we here receive from the hand of the Apostle full to our purpose 1 He calls the afflictions of the Saints Chastenings or Chastisements not punishments or judgements insinuating that the troubles which they suffer toto coelo
governed untill his coming That it was he who first preached to Adam salvation by the seed of the Woman and afterward more cleerly to Abraham That it was he also which delivered the Law upon Mount Sinai and added there a second Covenant in shew and sound a meer Covenant of works Do and be Blessed Sin and be Cursed which Covenant alone is expresly called the Old Covenant and is indeed now repealed and abolished from being any more a Covenant saving to them that put themselves under it This was but a temporary Covenant an Appendix to the Covenant before made with Abraham and both this and that with Abraham were but subordinate Covenants to that before mentioned between God and Christ Here now all that were justified before Christs coming in the flesh were justified in Christ by force of the first Covenant made between the Father and the Son The promise to Adam and the Covenants made with Abraham and with the Israelites together with all the Sacraments and signes annexed to all these tended onely to bring them that were justified before in Christ to a reall and sensible participation of it and the comforts thereof by Faith within their own consciences So is it now under the Gospel administration That first Covenant is that by which our justification is compleatly finished in Christ the preaching of Faith in a Covenant way tends onely to this that as many as were before justified in Christ may by Faith have their Justification declared and evidenced to their consciences to fill them with joy unspeakable and full of glory and with that peace which passeth all understanding Not but that Christ could without any such Sub-Covenanting have filled up his elect with all the marrow and mystery of Justification by immediate Revelation from himself as he dealt with Paul the Apostle but that this way made most for his and his Fathers glory both in them that are saved and in them that perish 4 Faith it self much less any other qualification gift or act is not a condition of Justification in foro Dei there Christ hath pleaded our discharge by his blood still maketh intercession for us but a means or instrument by which we receive Christ Jesus and the righteousnes or justification that is in him to our selves for consolation and salvation in foro conscientiae so stood the case in respect of the fore-mentioned under Covenant that of the Law When the Lord Christ had published his Law upon Mount Sinai and given to Israel by Moses all his Judgments and Statutes there now passeth a solemn Covenant betwixt Christ and them the people also every one in person assenting gladly to fulfill all that they might be blessed or if in the least point they should fail to yeeld themselves cursed This Covenant was made more visibly and in every part more strictly after the nature and rule of Covenants then this under the Gospel Yet will any say that this perfect obedience so Covenanted was a condition of their justification and salvation without which none could be justified or saved Then were all damned for no one either did or could perfectly obey Nay it was added because of transgressions saith the Apostle Gal. 3. 19. i. e. as a means so to operate about sin in the discovery of it and the damnation that is by it so also to convince men that they might be driven from all supposition of their own righteousnes and seek righteousnes by Christ alone in whom alone the elect were justified before this Covenant was made In the same manner the holding forth of justification now under the Gospel in the form and likenes of a Covenant Beleeve and be saved beleeve not and perish for ever proveth not Faith to be the condition of the New Covenant as hath been said even the whole preaching of salvation by Christ and injoyning of Faith upon all to receive it is an effect of that First great Covenant of Grace between the Father and the Son and a part of Christs Propheticall Office which he undertook in that Covenant to accomplish in undertaking the Mediatorship between God and Men. An effect of that first Covenant I say For so it was agreed that All which the Father had given to Christ by him to be justified and saved should come to him i. e. beleeve in him Jo 6. 37. To this purpose it was Covenanted on the Sons part to seek and to save that which was lost Luke 19. 10. to call unto him all to participate by Faith of the life light righteousness and salvation that he had received for them Isa 55. 1. Io 7. 37. Ma. 11. 28. This was a part of his Propheticall Office to discover the treasures of Grace in his heart and to envite all to the participation thereof And then on the Fathers part it was Covenanted that he would draw to Christ all the Elect all that he had given to Christ that while the Gospel sounded in their ears he would divinely by his Spirit teach and move their hearts that they shall not but come to Christ Jo 6. 43 44. And lastly it is agreed on the Sons part again that of all that the Father thus bringeth to him he must cast out none lose none but raise them all at the last day to glorification and the reason of all is annexed It is the Fathers will i. e. that which was Covenanted between the Father and him in Heaven and he came down from Heaven not to do his own will i. e. any thing of his private will without the consent of his Father but the will of him that sent him i. e. what was Covenanted between the Father and him and concurrent with the will of both Jo 6. 37 38 39. Thus all that which Mr B. calleth the Covenant of Grace is but an effect or an Article and branch of the Covenant made of old between God and Christ And Faith not so properly termed a condition of justification as an instrument to apprehend the present comfort of it being before ours in Christ 5 That this Covenant of Grace is absolute shall be the work of the next Chapter to evince CHAP. XII That Text of Jer 31. 31 32 33 c. opened and Mr. Baxters elusions by which he would evince that it proveth not a free and unconditionall Covenant answered with some other Argumentations with Mr. Baxter about the same Question I Now come to that Testimony of Jer. 31. 31 32 33. cited in Heb. 8. 8-10 against which Mr. B. so much excepteth That New Covenant there mentioned is called the New Covenant not in opposition to the Old Covenant made in the beginning with Adam but in opposition to that Covenant made two thousand and six hundred years after at least with Israel upon Mount Sinai And that Covenant upon Mount Sinai is called the Old Covenant not in opposition to the Cov of Grace made if not from eternity according to Mr. B. yet by Mr B. acknowledgment almost 3000 years
Divines to have sought an evasion Opera quidem legis saith he quatenus sine fide gratia Campian geruntur nihil habere quod ad justitiam conferant Caeterùm opera sanctorum Hominum cùm ejusmodi non sint sed fide gratia referta ideo justificari dicuntur verè coram Deo ex operibus suis non tamen tanquam suis i. e. The workes of the Law as they are done without Faith and Grace have nothing to contribute to Justification nevertheless the workes of godly men are not of that kind but replenished with Grace and Faith therefore are they sayd to bee justified by their workes yet not by workes as theirs but as wrought by the grace of God in them So also Vega the Monk Duplex est Justificatio altera ex gratia operandi infusa Andr. Vega de Just vag 751. altera ex debito Legis seclusa Gratia Excluditur ergo Justificatio illa quae fit seclusa gratia non Justificatio illa quae fit ex operibus gratia adjutis c. i. e. There is a two-fold Justification one of the Grace to work infused into us the other of the debt of the Law without Grace to enable That Justification is excluded which is sought after without Grace not that Justification which is of good works holpen by Grace And Hosius to Hosius elude that of the Apostle We are not justified by works Verum inquit ex operibus iis quae legis sunt aut quae liberi Arbitrii nostri propria existunt quae cum laborant imperfectione nihil ad justificationem conferunt i. e. It is true saith he of those works which are of the Law or done in the strength of Free-will only which in regard they have their imperfection cannot avail to Justification But as for such works as flow from our Free-will as it is set in operation by the over-powering of Gods Grace He concludeth otherwise Not to trouble our selves with what these Sophistical pratlers speak every and each of them severally let us take them collectively in one bunch and body as Mr. Pemble in his Treatise of Justification brings them in both head and tayle great and small thus disputing against Justification by the righteousness which is in Christ without any righteousness of our own intermixed Against this Doctrine they have two exceptions saith Mr. Pemble Pemb. Treat of Just if page 37. 1. That we are not justified by any work of our own viz. that we our selves do by our own strength without the help of Grace But yet we may be justified by some work which we doe viz. by the ayd of Grace such is the work of Faith 2. That wee are not justified by any workes of our own i. e. by any works of the Law but by a work of the Gospel such as Faith is we may be justified By this time it is enough evident that Mr. Baxter fights the Popes battel with the Popes weapons that as he maintaines the Popes cause so he rankes and files himself with the souldiers of the Popes Army who then can give any reason why hee should not be thought as sure a friend either to Christ or at least to Antichrist as are the Priests and Jesuits Onely if for no other yet for this cause Mr. Pemble deserves the brand of an Antinomian which in the following part of his Tractate Mr. Baxter gives him pag. 173. for disgracing this sophisticall shift which is common to other Papists with Mr. Baxter telling us in the fore-quoted place that this distinction of works done without Grace and works done by Grace was devised by one and consequently followed by others that had or have neither Wit nor Grace being a trick to elude the force of such Scriptures as exclude indefinitely all works from Justification c. A spightful speech thus at once to cast dirt in the faces both of Mr. Baxter and all his fratres or Fryars of the holy Mother Church of Rome No marvel if Mr. Baxter though he smooth him somtimes for his own ends yet doth carry him in mind to fit him a penny-worth for it when he thinks he hath caught an advantage against him Neverthelesse though Mr. Baxters ingenuity and plaine dealing seldom keep him company in this dispute and controvâ—rfie yet his subtilty and sophistry fail him never In his former positions before examined he affirms that besides the imputed righteousness we must have a personal righteousness inherent in our selves as absolutely necessary to salvation and justification Here now to make that his assertion sufferable he minceth it in its termes and in this Thesis calls it a performance of conditions and in the Explication an Acting of Duties what before he had called justifying righteousnesse Yea further tels us that some think it a self-ascribing and derogating from Christ to affirm our selves to be but the Actors of those Duties though we professe our selves to do it only by the strength of Grace When contrariwise the question is not about either the requisitenesse of Gospel duties nor about the strength by which they are to be performed herein if Mr. Baxter meaneth as he speaketh wee are agreed but about their office and end to which they are to be performed whether these duties are conditions of our Justification and that the end of our performing them ought to be that we may be justified by the righteousness which consisteth in their performance Doth hee meane to tune up a Palinodiam to recant and eat up his former assertions that he doth here so lenifie the roughness and correct the extravagancy both of his words and matter before delivered Nothing less but hee throws sugar after his poyson both that it may goe down the more quietly what he hath given already to his unwary Readers to drink and that they may be ready without suspition to drink deeper and more deadly draughts of the same poyson which thorow the whole sequele of this his Treatise he makes his business to temper for them I shall there answer more fully where he speakes more fully In the mean time all may see his dealing here to be not faire and logicall but fallacious and sophistical He tels us in the conclusion of his Explication that He will not digress from his intended subject so far as to enter here into a disquisition of the nature and workings of that Grace which doth enable us to perform these conditions but refers us to Parkers Theses de traductione peccatoris ad vitam What that Mr. Parker or his work is I know not But that Mr. Baxter will not here deliver his own judgement I think he doth well For if his judgement in the doctrine of Gods Grace working unto mans conversion and sanctification be not more sound then about the operation of the same Grace to mans Justification his silence will be farre more acceptable then his best argumentations to chaste ears and spiritual minds And little cause have we to expect any
good from him upon that subject because that although there are many who extoll the power of mans Free-will to his conversion even to the clouding of the glory of Grace that do notwithstanding hold fast the doctrine of Justification by Christ alone without any intermixture of our own righteousnesse Yet I know no one sort or sect of men that part our Justification between Gods righteousness imputed and our own inherent but that the same also about the doctrine of Free-will are wholly Popish if not Pelagian also In the bulk and body of his Explication wherein he inveigheth against those whom hee in termes of abasement calleth sublime Platonick and Plotinian Divines when as they account themselves essentially God himselfe he hath not us dissenting from him CHAP. XV. Whether men in Scriptures are said to be personally Righteous because they perform works and duties as conditions of the new Covenant ye a only for this Master Baxters reasons by which he labours to make it good examined Thesis 22. BAx page 118. In this fore-explained sense it is that men in Scripture are said to be personally Righteous and in this sense it is that the faith and duties of beleivers are said to please God viz. as they are related to the Covenant of Grace and not as they are measured by the Covenant of Works Explication Those that will not acknowledge that the Godly are called Righteous in the Scripture by reason of a personal Righteousnesse consisting in the Rectitude of their own dispositions and actions as well as in regard of their imputed Righteousnesse may be convinced from these Scriptures if they will beleive them Gen. 7. 1. and 18. 23 24. Job 17. 9. Psal 1. 5 6. and 37. 17 21. Eccles 9. 1 2. Ezek. 18. 20. 24. and 33. 12. 13. 18. Mat. 9. 13. To these he addeth as may be there read a multitude of Scriptures more which unlesse it were to better purpose it is not worthy the labour to transcribe To this he further addeth That men are sometimes called Righteous in reference to the Lawes and judgements of men I acknowledge Also in regard of some of their particular actions which are for the substance good and perhaps sometimes in a comparative sense as they are compared with the ungodly as a line lesse crooked should be called streight in comparison of one more crooked But how improper an expression that is you may easily perceive The ordinary phrase of Scripture hath more truth and aptitude then so Therefore it must needs be that men are called righteous in reference to the New Covenant onely Which is plain thus Righteousnesse is but the denomination of our actions or persons as they relate to some rule This Rule when it is the law of Man and our actions suit thereto we are then righteous before men When this rule is Gods Law it is either that of Workes or that of Grace In relation to the former there is none Righteous no not one for all have sinned and come short of the glory of God Onely in Christ who hath obeyed and satisfied wee are Righteous But if you consider our actions and persons in relation to the Rule of the New Covenant so all the regenerate are personally righteous because they all performe the conditions of this Covenant and are properly pronounced righteous thereby Neither can it be conceived how the works of beleivers should either please God or be called righteousnesse as they relate to that old Rule which doth pronounce them unrighteous hatefull and accursed All this in its substance at least might be granted to a conscientious man that meaneth as he speaketh hating all equivocations and mentall reservations For it being first granted to us what is here granted That men are called in Scripture Righteous sometimes in Regard of their imputed Righteousnesse sometimes in reference to the lawes and judgements of Men sometimes also in regard of some of their particular actions which are for their substance good and sometimes in a comparative sense as they are compared with the ungodly The 3 last of these consisting in the Conformity of persons and actions with the Lawes of God or of men though not a perfect Conformity upon this first yeelded to us we could without any prejudice to truth grant back again to such qualified men as are before mentioned that sometimes men are called personally Righteous in reference to the New Covenant i. e. in regard of their inchoat sanctification and an inherent righteousnesse flown out of Christ into them by means of their union unto Christ for which though not yet Complete and perfect in them they are à parte praestantiore termed Righteous But to Master Baxter whom we have as the wolfe by the ears prepared if we hold him to bite at our hands if we let him go to fall upon our throats or invade our face and head if we deny him what he would have to bite at us if we grant it him to improve it against Christ our head we grant nothing wee can grant nothing because in all that he speaketh he means not as he speaketh but covers under fine words fallacies and falsities First then we except against his Thesis that it is a meer fardle of Amphibologies and Equivocations That he so delivers all that he will be held to nothing For first when he saith In this fore-explained sense it is his meaning was no doubt to leave us doubtfull or at least to leave himselfe this advantage that wee should remain uncertain where to find him If we should fetch the explanation from the next Theses he might except that his meaning was of some of the more remote Theses if from the remote he would fly to the next or if wee should draw the sense from both the next and remote Theses he might evade thus that he meant not any thing that was said in any of his Theses but something in the explication of some of them And thus wee might pursue the wild-goose long enough before wee should finde her pitching Secondly When he saith Men in Scriptures are said to be personally righteous his purpose was to leave us in the like doubt whether he means the Righteousnesse of justification or the Righteousnesse of Sanctification and himselfe the like advantage to fly from the one to the other as may most further his ends Thirdly when he saith again And in this sense it is he leaves us as knowing as before what sense he meaneth himselfe hath not yet concluded what the sense shall be saving in general such a sense as upon all occasions may serve to his purposes Fourthly When he saith That the faith and duties of believers are said to please God viz. As they are related to the Covenant of Grace and not as they are measured by the Covenant of works he had a project to leave us uncertain whether by the word They and They twice used he means those beleevers or those duties and works And upon this hinge
and the same conformed not onely to the Law but the Gospel also as before hath been mentioned In respect of this sanctification though yet but unperfect wee indeed affirme the godly to bee sometimes called Righteous yet not righteous to Justification but in regard of the life of Righteousnesse new begotten and inherent in them But it is observable how subtlely he slanders the Orthodox Teachers with a fault which is his not theirs how hee would condemn them for men attributing too much to the Law and Workes because they call those virtues and good works which the Law commandeth a righteousnesse with which the godly do serve the Lord in and through Christ Jesus When himsel◠affirmes the same to be the very Righteousnesse by which they are justified For if he be demanded whether the personall Righteousnesse which he contendeth to bee necessary and effectual to Justification ought not to have at least some unperfect agreement to the Law of God he answers affirmatively and fights strongly for it in the sequele of this Treatise Let him be demanded whether any other supposed Righteousnesse that the Law command not can be our personal righteousnesse to justifie us This he◠denyeth What then is the difference betwixt him and them This onely that they will not say with him that his righteousnesse so unperfect as hee here termes it and which in the las◠words of the former Section he pronounced unrighteous hatefull and accursed is the personall righteousnesse by whic◠men are justified before God If you ask how such workes should justifie being so unrighteous and accursed yes saith he as God hath appointed them to be the conditions of the New Covenant the performance whereof justifieth and maketh us personally righteous before God Here now is a heavenly Gospel Such conditions and such a justification if the one bee accursed much more the other And where is Gods Righteousness if hee will not justifie but upon accursed conditions Those that will not have not consented to this doctrine of his he calls intolerably ignorant Let him now name any one either Divine or understanding Christian in any of the Churches that have shook off Popery and not suckt it back again consenting with him in this doctrine else it is not his humility that is discovered in calling all the godly and learned that are or have been in any of the Churches of Christ intolerably ignorant Satis pro imperio enough Magisterially out of doubt What he talks of the streight crooked line hath its dependence onely upon the fallacious definition which hee before gave of Righteousness making it a mear empty notion not a vertue or gif of Gods grace which definition falling this comparison fals with it For if we grant unto Righteousness a real being Master Baxter himself will not deny but as one sparke of fire under a vast heap of ashes is as true and real fire as if no ashes were there so one spark of righteousness I mean living Righteousness under a whole body of infirmities is as true and truly Righteousness as if no infirmities were there And if God vouchsafe to call a man righteous in reference to that poor pittance of Righteousness rather than unrighteous for the whole mass of his corruptions what art thou O man that repliest against God is thine eye evil because he is good B. Most they say to maintain it is in this simple objection If we are called holy because of an unperfect holinesse then why not Righteous because of an imperfect righteousnesse Answ Holinesse signifieth no more but a dedication to God either by separation onely or by qualifying the subject first with an aptitude to its Divine employment and then separating or devoting it as in our sanctification Now a person imperfectly so qualified is yet truly and really so qualified And therefore may truly be called Holy so farre But Righteousnesse signifying a conformity to the rule and a conformity with a quatenus an imperfect rectitude being not a true conformity or rectitude at all because the denomination is of the whole action or person and not of a certain part or respect therefore imperfect Righteousnesse is not Righteousnesse but unrighteousnesse It is a contradiction in adjecto Object But is our personal Righteousnesse perfect as it is measured by the New rule Answ Yes as I shall open to you by and by I could here heap up a multitude of orthodox writers that do call our personal Righteousnesse by the title of evangelicall as signifying from what rule it doth receive its name The words of the Poet are here verified by Master Baxter mali bonos malos esse volunt ut sint sui similes Hee is angry with the simplicity of the godly and orthodox that they are single and sincere in their disputes and would have them double and crafty like himselfe In this sense I acknowledge the Argument which he saith they bring and is most they say to maintain their assertion is a simple objection They have more to say for the maintenance thereof then all his sophistry can subvert And this argument though simple yet is not silly or weak but strong and sound against all his batteries It is drawn à pari If there be a parity between righteousnesse and holinesse to give a denomination of holy and righteous persons then the argument is firme and men may be as properly termed Righteous in reference to a righteousnesse not yet perfected as holy in reference to a holinesse not perfected at verum prius ergo Postorius The former is true therefore the latter also Master Baxter denyeth the assumption and goes about to shew a disparity in this case between righteousnesse and holinesse making holinesse to be either onely a separation of a thing or person to holy use without an infusion of a new qualification to fit him for holy employment or at least the qualification of such a person first alway and then a separating of him afterward as if usually the consecration or separation by the blood did not go before the new qualifying of him by the Spirit of Christ this indeed is not so squaring with the Popish Canon as his way But to let passe this touch onely upon that wherein he opposeth righteousnesse to holinesse Holinesse he grants to be a qualification and consequently to have a real Being This here he denyeth as before of righteousnesse A meerly fallacious evasion for righteousnesse hath no lesse a real being than holinesse as hath been before shewed And the Scripture gives its Testimony making Righteousnesse and true Holinesse as it were the two essentials of the New Man which is created after God i. e. in answer and conformity to that essentiall Righteousnesse and Holiness that are in God himselfe Eph. 4. 24. And what els doth Saint Peter mean in affirming the Saints to be Partakers of the Divine Nature but by the infusion or creating of Righteousnesse as well as Holinesse in them by which they are reformed to
it to that end and partly as it is the effect of Grace and wrought in us by the Spirit so that the value and efficacy thereof is to be taken not from the righteousnes inherent in us or performed by us but from Gods ordination of it to the end to which himself will make it effectuall and from the vertue of grace and the spirit of grace in whose strength it is performed So also Antoni par 4. tit 9. c. 7. ante sect sect 1 2 3. Osor de Jus li. 6. nu 151 ex Hos Confut l ih 5. pag. 451 452. Andrad Orths. explic li. 6. pag. 181. Pemb. of justif p. 34 35. sect 2. cap. 2. the rest of the Scholasticks Monks and Jesuits affirm that they do not by this doctrine Contribute any thing to mans righteousness or diminish the glory of Gods grace and Christs merits Nay they are the sole advancers of Grace and of Christ for that they attribute due power to them to make mans righteousness that is base and nothing in it self to be effectuall or meritorious to Justification That these Heretikes the Lutherans are the Cursed enemies unto Christ and grace in denying our Righteousness available to justifie and save us so streightening the vertue and power of Grace and of Christ as being unable to infuse vertue and efficacy into our righteousness to justifie and save us but more fully of this in a more proper place The same paint doth Arminius use to make tolerable if not plausible his imputation of the Act of Faith to Justification as his very words are alleaged by Mr. Pemble No marvell then if Mr. Br hath proficiently learned at the feet of such Gamaleels But what force or shew of substance is there in his and their so peevish shifts and evasions It is as he that brake up a neighbours house killed the Master and enriched himself with the Treasure thereof with this mentall reservation that the Act should be without any guilt of Murther before God or of felony before men And what either God or man could then lay any thing to his Charge So Mr. Br with those whom he followeth robs God of the glory of his grace and Christ of the honour of his merits to inrich the righteousness of their own Faith and works therewith but with this proviso first layd in their fancies and after subscribed to with their hands that God and his Christ must not take their grace and righteousnes herein wronged nor mans righteousness extolled nor the actors therein offenders and when they have layd all things so sure what hath God or man to say against them Yet is there one inconvenience and the same a shrewd one that Gods way of reckoning in the point of Justification was fixed before this of Mr. Br and his Masters and without any Consultation with them about it by means whereof it runs right Contrary to theirs And it is much to be feared because he is God he will not now Change He hath in this point set so in direct opposition mans righteousness and Gods righteousness grace and works that both Cannot shall not Consist together but either exclude and frustrate the other It must be onely Gods righteousness or onely mans righteousness according to his rule by which we must be justified he prohibits all medleyes will have no mixture of heaven and of earth of the Spirit and of the flesh the oxe and the asse must not be yoked together in this busines he that brings any of his own righteousness frustrates to himself the Grace and righteousness of God He that trusteth to grace and putts on by Faith the righteousness of God must derelinquish his own righteousness to be found in Gods alone unto Justification Rom. 9. 30 31 32. Rom. 10. 3 4. Phil. 3. 9. If by Grace then it is no more of works otherwise grace is no more grace but if it be of works then it is no more grace otherwise work is no more work Rom. 11. 6. And other such like Scriptures which in the more proper place I shall produce What will Mr. Br answer at Gods tribunal for raising his pepper-corn as a mount from which to batter the impregnable grace and righteousness of God If this doth not what can extoll his pepper-corn To conclude what I have to say to the foresaid words of Mr. Br let him not take pepper in the nose as the Country phrase is if I take a grain or two of his own loose powder to blow up his pepper-corn that it may not be abusive to the feeble and simple Christians If these will but consider well these two things first what he means by his pepper-corn secondly how farr he will abase or extoll it they should easily see his subtlety and keep their foot from being taken in this his snare laid for them Both these are to be gathered from himself Touching the former he means by the pepper-corn the whole righteousness of man the entire righteousness which the Law requireth in the full substance though not in the full degree which the Law requireth it all personall vertues and duties which the morall Law injoyned upon men This is cleer enough by what he hath said before hinted by that which he annexeth in the application of this Similitude when he saith Even so is our Evangelicall Righteousness or Faith insinuating that by Faith he means all that Can be brought under the notion of Evangelicall righteousness in his sense which is all that the Law Commandeth and the Gospel approveth as righteousness and in the following part of his Treatise when he Comes to the Anatomizing of his Faith here spoken of he doth in express words affirm seek to confirm it Here is a pepper-corn able like Moses his rod-serpent to eat up all the pepper-corns of the East-Indies Possibly the royall Soveraign was built to fetch it from the East Indies to us it being too great a fraught for any other Shipp in England And it must not be divided for a peece will do no good in this busines but the whole is required Doth not the weakest Christian here see discovered the Cunning of the man that would have them to swallow such a pepper-corn such a Camel into themselves What room would be left then for Christ which of the Pharisees of old or of the Papists in latter ages have more extolled mans righteousness or more fully ascribed salvation to works onely though they used terms equipollent to Cover their falshood yet they did not hit upon the pepper-corn to delude poor souls with an opinion that if there were any difference between their doctrine and the Doctrine of the Scriptures yet was it as small as the weight and worth of a pepper-corn so that they might be followed without danger Touching the latter how farr he will extoll the pepper-corn of our own workes and righteousness to Justification and salvation he doth not here though afterward he doth in express words
of Christ is opened and the power of his Spirit offered and we commanded to receive our fill and in the strength of what we receive to mount higher and higher untill we come to full perfection The reason that Master Baxter bringeth why he cannot bee yet convinced that Christ commands perfect obedience to the Moral Law were from another reasonless but from Master Baxter it is but a discovery of himselfe to be himselfe i. e. an admirer I had almost said adorer of his own wisdome Because saith he I know not to what end Christ should command us that obedience which he never doth enable any man in this life to performe What more lofty arrogance he must be admitted into Christs privie Councell and have communicated to him what ends Christ hath in giving his commands else will he cast be hinde him his precepts as void and vain He should have left to Socinus and his followers thus to have argued who make humane reason the rule and bound of their Religion Had he said he is not yet convinced because he yet meets not with any punctual testimony of Scripture that expressly affirms it this would have at the worst but implyed some inadvertency in his reading the Scriptures But not to deny that the Scripture saith it and yet not to be convinced because he seeth not to what ends Christ should doe what the Scripture saith he hath done this is no lesse than the advancing the authority of his reason above the authority of Gods Word and an attributing of power to his own blindnesse of silencing and frustrating the authority and truth of the Scriptures But who is more blinde than he that will not see Or what hinders Master Baxter from seeing what ends Christ had in commanding that perfection which we cannot attain in this life fully to performe Is it not because he terminateth and boundeth Christs ends in all that he did suffered or commanded to man as both the circumference and center of all and had no aim to his own glory and the glory of his father that sent him therein How many honourable ends of Christ in this case may there bee gathered from the Scriptures 1. That God might be herein glorified Herein is my father gloryfied that ye bear much fruit Jo. 15. 8. The more fruit wee bear and the more perfect the more is God glorified in us Therefore is the perfection of our fruit-bearing commanded that God may be still more and more glorified by our greater greater fruitfulnesse every one being forced to magnify the wonderfull operation of Gods grace in Christ that hath enabled that which was erewhile a dead stock to bring forth against nature so much and so good fruit Even as an â—xpert penman or Master in writing to get honour by the proficiency of his Schollers doth not bring down and lessen the perfection of his letters which he writes for their coppy to their feeblenesse and unablenesse in writing so should they continue unskilfull and unable still but sets before them a perfect coppy commanding and teaching them to follow it and by degrees even to match it and by this means the more perfectly they write the more honour comes to the Master 2. To hold us in a constant intercourse and communion with himselfe by faith Were we perfect or had we attained all that is required of us we should be wholly apt to settle our selves upon our own bottoms and worke either not at all or else in our strength But when we see our selves deficient in what we ought to be and nothing in our selves or any where else out of Christ to supply us that without or out of him we can doe nothing this keeps us in a diligent and constant union with him to abide in him as the branches in the vine to suck from him sap and life more abundantly for the producing of more abundant growth and fruitfulnesse in us and thus the communion beeween Christ and â—s is more and more peâ—fected and he more and more honoured when we fetch all our vertue and strength from him 3. To keep us in continual selfe-denyal and to dash to nothing Master Baxters idol of Justification by our own inherent righteousnesse which when we finde to come still short of the peâ—fection injoyned and sinfull in its defectivenesse we shall be forced to with-hold our confidence from it and with the Apostle to shake it off in reference to Justification as dung and losse that we may win Christ and be found in him c. So making Christ our All and our selves nothing to our own happinesse Phi. 3. 8. 9. 4. To awaken us out of our carnal slumberings and contentation in our poor beginings and slight pittances of knowledge and righteousnesse already attained and to stirre us on with a holy agility towards perfection in our motions It was this that wrought thus with the Apostle Paul Knowing perfection to be commanded and seeing himselfe yet in a station so short of it it makes him to cry out I have not yet attained I am not yet perfect therefore forgetting those things that are behind that are already done and attained and reaching forth to the things that are before not yet attained I presse toward the marke of perfection Phil. 3. 12 13 14. For these and many other ends that might bee added doth Christ command perfection though not fully attainable in this life Master Baxter expresses himselfe to be able to finde but one and that but a seeming end or reason in this case and that hee blowes off as insufficient If it were saith he to convince us of our disability and sinne that is the worke of the Law and the continuing of it upon the old termes as is before explained is sufficient to that Sundry failings are there in this passage of his making it insufficient to the end for which he useth it 1. That it makes the Law because it convinceth of sinne to be the onely means ordained of God to convince us of sinne When contrariwise the Lord Christ tells us that the Spirit of Grace shall under the Gospel also convince men of sinne Joh. 16. 8. and that with a more effectual conviction than ever the Law as the Law could work It shall so convince men of sinne that it shall convince them of righteousnesse also of damning sinne in themselves and of saving righteousnesse laid up for them in Christ This the Law could not do Therefore is as a Covenant of workes for so Master Baxter here takes the Law neither the onely nor the chiefe means ordained of God to convince of sinne 2. That it makes the Law upon it old terms to be ordained of God in a special and proper manner to convince of sinne This indeed was the office of the Law as given to Israel upon mount Sinai upon other and new termes But upon its old and first terms as it was given to Adam this could not be the next and proper end of
act absolved the conscience there followeth also the sense of our remission and justification So that besides this sense and apprehension there are two things in our justification by faith over and above that which was in our eternal justification in Christ viz. 1. A total diffidence and denyal of our own righteousnesse and a trusting and adhering wholly and onely to Christ for pardon and justification 2. Gods act upon our consciences declaring and assuring us that our debt is paid by Christ and we discharged upon the satisfaction which our surety hath made so that the obligation is cancelled and we depart with a full and general acquittance in our consciences Neither of these were there in the former justification i. e. in the justification in the former sense before mentioned and so that there is more than the bare knowledge of our justification in our being justified in the latter sense is evident Whatsoever else is conteined in the doctrine of the Protestant divines about this question we shall have occasion to adde in examining what Master Baxter saith here and afterwards to oppugn it But the chief thing is yet behind may some say viz. the proof of these positions by sound Arguments or by evidencing Scriptures and the main thing to be proved is that there is such a justification as is an immanent and eternal act in God It is Master Baxters lowd challenge pag. 93. Let all the Antinomians shew but one Scripture that speaketh of justification from eternity I will be so charitable as to conceive he expects not that we should produce Scriptures that say in those very words but that which is the Tantundem that say it in sense and substance else if he reject the matter and stick to words I shall challenge him to produce one sentence of all the sermons which Christ preached and in the whole doctrine that he personally delivered which speaketh at all of justification by faith But in words equipollent to Master Baxters the Scripture delivereth this doctrine which he opposeth viz. justification from eternity First What lesse is to be gathered from 2 Tim. 1. 9. God hath saved us and called us with a holy calling not according to our workes but according to his purpose and grace which was given us in Christ before the World began What can be said more fully to Master Baxters challenge He will not deny that the word saving doth include in it justifying for so should he both contradict himselfe and lose elswhere more than he can gain here by denying it It will then run thus that we are justified and called of God with a holy calling not according to our works these words destroy the end of Master Baxters opposing the eternity of our justification if our own qualifycation and workes may not come in collaterally with Christ to constitute us justified he little regards whether the act be immanent or transient but according to his purpose and grace which was given us in Christ before the world began and that is from eternity See the grace of justification and salvation was given us in Christ from eternity Object Master Baxter may probably object that the grace was indeed given us in Christ from eternity that is God had decreed from eternity to justifie us in Christ when we should come to beleeve in him to justifie or save us in time as to call us in time For the grace here mentioned given us in Christ before times is as much affirmed to be the grace of our vocation or calling as of our saving and justifying But our calling must therefore our justification also must be in time And thus by the grace given must be understood Gods gracious purpose and decree to give us salvation and justification So Mr. Baxter I know God hath decreed to justifie his people from eternity But it is done in time page 93. Sol. 1. That Covenant justifying or the declaring of us in our own Consciences to bee accepted as just in Christ is not denyed to be an act accomplished in us in time Nor yet that God decreed from Eternity to declare us in our consciences Righteous when wee should beleeve But the granting of all this nothing advantageth Master Baxters cause For neither doth this Act of God in time terminate upon our conscience nor his eternal decree so to justifie us beleeving in our selves deny that wee were justified in God and in Christ from Eternity 2. It appears not that the Apostle here speaketh of our calling to the participation of Christ and of justification and sanctification by him in time but rather of that calling mentioned Rom. 4. 17. That God calleth those things that be not as though they were As he called Abraham the father of many Nations when he was yet either childlesse or at least was in reference to the strength of nature without having without hope to have that child from whom those nations should issue and accrew to him as their father So God is said to have called us with a holy calling i. e. to have called and reputed us in Christ his pardoned accepted and adopted children even before we had any actual being in our selves Dedit qui erat accepit qui non erat Quis antem hoc facere potuit nisi qui vocat ea quae non sunt tanquam ea quae sunt Aug. de verb. Apost Sect. 3. If by Calling it be pertinaciously maintained that we must understand that which is done by the Ministry of the Gospel yet all this helps not Master Baxter at all in regard of the exclusive clause following not according to our workâ— where our salvation and justification as well as our vocation are denyed to have any dependance upon our own workes and qualifications as conditions thereof And the whole end of Master Baxters dispute against justification as an immanent Act in God is because if that be granted there will be no place for footing our works and qualifications as necessarily precedent conditions of justification And these fall to ground as well as if we were justified without them though in time as if wee were justified from Eternity 4. But how and whether we can truly and properly be said to have received Grace in Christ before all worlds whereby we are saved and justified and yet not to be saved and justified in Christ before the world was will come to bee examined in drawing forth the sense of other Scriptures which I shall annex In the interim this remaines unquestioned that although the Apostle speak here of Justification in our selves in time yet he affirmes it to be according to the Grace given us in Christ before the world so it was in Christ for us before though not in our selves till we beleeve Againe when the Scripture speaking of the Sonnes of Isaac saith of them while yet unborn and consequently having neither done good nor evill Jacob have I loved but Esau have I hated Mal. 1. 2 3. Rom. 9. 11 13. And
elswhere pronounceth of men that when they lay in their blood in their nakedness then hee made it the time of love sayd to them live spread his skirt over them and covered them entred into Covenant with them and made them his Ezek. 16. 6 8. God of his great love wherewith hee hath loved us even when we were dead in sins and trespasses hath quickned us c. Ephes 2. 4 5. God commendeth his love to us that when we were yet sinners when enemies we were justified by Christs blood and reconciled to God by his death Rom. 5 8 9 10. Here it is evident to all men that the love of God justifying and reconciling us to himself goeth before our Faith and Workes was then in its power and operation when wee were yet sinners in all our pollution enemies dead in sinne therefore without any spirituall motion or operation to our own cleansing or happiness I demand now when this love of God so justifying us beganne Not when we beleeved and first obeyed the Gospel for it went before it was then acted toward us when wee were enemies dead c. Or when wee beganne to be sinners Then it seems our sinne begat this love in God and then let the Atheists Aphorism stand as an impregnable Principle let our sinne abound that the grace and love of God may abound Or was there ever an hatred of us as a contrary affection in God before which is now expelled that love might succeed in its place And hath God now changed his hating of us to condemne us into a love to justifie and save us This were to accuse God of mutableness and change For God is Love 1 Iohn 4. 8. and the Love of God is God himselfe loving and to affirme where wee finde the Love of God at present that there was a time when this Love was not in God and a time when God beganne to love is no other but to affirme that there was a time when God yet was not and a time when he beganne to bee God the will of God being God himselfe And the volitions or willings of God being God himself willing And the acts of Gods Love and Hatred being acts of Gods Will yea of God himselfe and no more subject to change because immanent in God then God himselfe So that these Scriptures which affirme Gods love to us when sinners doe affirm also consequentially his love to us before we were either in being or just or sinners even from eternity Thirdly when the Lord saith to his people I have loved thee with an everlasting love Jerem. 13. 3. Doth hee not mean a love which is from everlasting to everlasting Or is there a Love of God to everlasting which was not from everlasting Or was it not the Love of accepting and approbation of them unto Righteousnesse and Salvation whereof hee there speaketh And when the Apostle Iohn tels us that the glory of Gods love doth herein shine forth Not that we loved him but that he loved us 1 John 4. 10. making not our love or any fruits thereof the foundation of Gods love to us but the love of God to us to goe before and prevent our love is not this a doctrin universally true of all the Saints that are or have been that Gods love to them prevented and was antecedaneous to their love toward him if so then consequently before mans being as well as before his loving and if before mans being then from eternity was this grace given us that we were loved of God in Christ to justification and salvation It is that which the Lord Christ speaketh and that not obscurely in his prayer before his passion where having interceded and craved sundry blessings for his Elect he adds this reason why he craved those blessings in their behalfe viz. That the world may know that thou hast sent me and that thou hast loved them as thou hast loved me Jo. 17. 23. How is that in the next verse he explaineth himself thus Thou hast loved me before the foundation of the world what doth follow hence but that as Christ so they that are Christs were loved of God unto life before the foundation of the world why will not Master Baxter acknowledge what Christ hath prayed that all the world may know Object 1. Or will it be objected that God loving the Elect in Christ before the foundation of the world is to be understood onely in this sense that before the foundation of the world God decreed in himselfe to love them in Christ afterward in time Then must we so conclude of Christ also that God loved Christ before that is decreed before the foundation of the world to love Christ in after time not that he loved him from eternity for as hee loved Christ so he loved them in Christ But he actually loved Christ as the head of the Church before the foundation of the World therefore also he loved the Elect in Christ as the body and members of Christ before the foundation of the world Yea to decree from eternity to love them afterward in time and untill the time came to hate them or not to love them in Christ was to decree mutablenesse and change in his own will i. e. in himselfe which is wholly repugnant to his nature that cannot change by receiving augmentation unto or diminution of the acts of his Will which were in him from eternity Object 2. But perhaps Master Baxter may object with his friends of the Netherlands the Arminians whose ghosts have much infested us within this Nation these many years that this love of God from Eternity that which he shed abroad upon the Elect when they were yet sinners enemies and dead in sin is to be understood onely of Gods universal common love his love to all the creatures which he hath made or at the uttermost his 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 his love unto mankind which he extends to all alike Making the raine to descend and his Sun to shine upon the just and unjust and fills the hearts of all with food and gladness Sol. But how then was Jaakob loved and Esau hated when Esau partaked more of this common love than Jaakob or was it a Common love by which God doth justifie and reconcile sinners to himselfe then all shall be reconciled justified and saved Or when the Apostle termes it 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the much or great love of God out of which when he quickned us yet dead in sinnes and trespasses Eph. 2. 4. was this the common love extended to all the Sonns and Daughters of Adam without difference Then also for God loved us as he loved Christ the love of God to Christ was a common love in nothing supereminent to the love wherewith he loved Cain and Judas Lastly when God saith I have not beheld iniquity in Jaakob nor seen perversnesse in Israel Num. 23. 21. it will I doubt not be granted that the meaning was that God did
Gods evidencing and manifesting to the beleever that he was really justified in God from eternity but also in Gods Actual and Judiciall pronouncing of the sentence of Absolution to the soul drawn to Gods Tribunal and gasping for pardon thorough Christ By means whereof the poor sinner is constituted as well as declared actually and personally righteous and that before God his Justifier 3. That as oft as the Gospel speaketh of Justification by Faith it is in reference to this Transient Act of God not that Immanent 4. That as I conceive the Covenant between God and Christ to be if I may so term it a fruit in order to that immanent act in God so I think also that the Covenant of Promise the Covenant under the Law the Covenant under the Gospel and the very Covenant of Works to be subservients to this Covenant made with Christ as a publick person representing us to work all coordinately to the advancing of the glory of Gods Grace to his Elect in justifying them in himself from Eternity Yet so that if I find a candid Teacher in any or all these to inform me better I hope I shall not be wanting to shew my docility I should have wholly forborn to touch upon this point so famous a Divine having lately taken upon him the Province but this was written before and it will not hinder his further prosecution thereof to which I hear hee will bee provoked As to Mr. Baxter let him pretend what he will of his zeal against this Doctrine because it is a Pillar of Antinomianism yet his conscience tels him that his rage against it is under this consideration as it is a slâ—dge to beat in peeces the conditional Justification Election Redemption and Grace together with the pride of mans Free-will Works and Righteousnesse uncertainty of Perseverance c. Which are the Articles of Faith common to Mr. Baxter with the Papists and Arminians If Justification as an immanent act in God from Eternity hold all these must fall and Master Baxter and his fellows bee crushed with the ruines thereof The worke of the next Chapter therefore shall bee to examine the force of his reasons and arts whereby he seekes to refute and subvert it CHAP. XXI Arg. Mr. Baxters Reasons and Dispute examined by which he endeavoureth to refute Justification as an Immanent Act in God and from Eternity B. A great question it is whether Remission and Justification be Immanent or Transient Acts of God The mistake of this one point was that that led those two most excellent famous Divines Doctor Twiss and Mr. Pemble to that errour and pillar of Antinomianism viz. Justification from Eternity For saith Doctor Twiss often All acts immanent in God are from Eternity But Justification and Remission of sins are Immanent acts Therefore c. By Immanent in God they must needs mean Negatively not Positively For Acts have not the respect of an Adjunct to its Subject but of an Effect to its Cause Now whether all such Immanent Acts are any more Eternall then Transient Acts is much questioned As for God to know that the world doth now exist that such a man is now just or sanctified c. Gods fore knowledge is not a knowing that such a thing is which is not but that such a thing will be which is not Yet doth this make no change in God no more then the Sun is changed by the variety of creatures which it doth enlighten and warm or the glass by the variety of faces which it represents or the eye by the variety of colours which it beholdeth For whatsoever some say I doe not think that every variation of the object maketh a reall chaâ—ge in the eye or that the beholding of ten distinct colours at one view doth make ten distinct acts of the sight or alterations of it much less doe the objects of Gods knowledge make such alterations But grant that all Gods Immanent Acts are Eternall which I think is quite beyond our understanding to know yet most Divines will deny the minor and tell you that Remission and Justification are Transient Acts which is true but a truth which I never had the happiness to see well cleared by any For to prove it a Transient Act they tell us no more but that it doth transire in subjectum extraneum by making a Morall change on our relatio though not a reall upon our persons as Sanctification doth But this is onely to affirme and not to pâ—ove and that in generall onely not telling us what Act it is that maketh this change Relations are not capable of being the patients or subjects of any Act seeing they be but meer Entia Rationis and no reall beings Neither are they the immediate product or effect of any Act but in order of Nature are consequentiall to the direct effects The proper effect of the Act is to lay the foundation from whence the Relation doth arise And the same Act which layeth the foundation doth cause the Relation without the intervention of any other Suppose but the subjectum fundam entuÌ„ terminus and the Relation will unavoydably follow by a meer resultancy The direct effect therefore of Gods actuall Justification must be a reall effect though not upon the sinner yet upon something else for him And thence will his passive Justification follow Now what Transient Act this is And what its immediate real effect who hath unfolded I dare not be too confident in so dark a point But it seemeth to me that this justifying transient Act is the enacting or promulgation of the New Covenant wherein Justification is conferred upon every beleever Here passing and enacting this grant is a transient Act. 2. So may the continuance of it as I think 3. This Law or grant hath a Moral improper action whereby it mâ—y be said to pardon or justifie which properly is but virtuall justifying 4. By this grant God doth 1. Give us the righteousnesse of Christ to be ours when we beleeve 2. And disableth the Law to oblige us to punishment or to condemn us 3. Which reall foundation being thus laid our relations of Iustified and pardoned in title of Law do necessarily result A matchlesse and egregious dispute able to tum all the immanent Acts of God into Transient yea if spell'd backward to turne all his Transient Acts into immanent of force enough to extort from Gods bosome all that waâ— in him from eternity that it shall abide in him or with him no longer Here is Doctrine fitted to purpose for his ignorant babes and tender lambs of Kederminster for whose sake and use this worke if wee will believe the Author was chiefly published No lesse proper for them than the Scripture in the Latine tongue by his holy mother appointed for the illumination of them that cannot read the English or their Country language What a supereminent measure of the Spirit hath this man received above Christ himselfe above Paul the most learned
said we may easily perceive without any further and new summing up the particulars what the assertions are which may be truly and properly charged with Antinomism and gave first the Term of Antinomism to the Assertors Now let us see also what the Tenents of Master Baxters Antinomists are and what opinions he curseth to Hell unde the name of Antinomianism Their Heresies according to Master Baxter are these which follow 1. That Justification is or there is a Justification from Eternity pag. 93. 2. That it is an immanent act in God pa. 173. 3. That our Evangelicall righteousnesse by which we are justified is without us in Christ pa. 109. or performed by Christ and not by our selves pa. 111. 4. That Justification is a free act of God without any condition on our part pa. 169 170. 5. That God seeth not sin in his justified ones pa. 207. 6. That we must not work or perform duties for life and salvation but from life and salvation or that we must not make the attaining of justification or salvation an end of our endeavours but obey in thankfullnesse onely because we are saved and justified pa. 324 325. 330. 7. That they acknowledge no condition of life but bare beliefe in the narrowest sense that is either belief of pardon and justification and Reconciliation or affiance in Christ for it so also they acknowledg no proper damning sin but unbelief in that strict sense as is opposite to this faith i. e. the not believing in Christ as our Saviour Append pa. 20 21. 8. To these he addeth many more or rather mostly the same in other Termes out of the Marrow of Modern Divinity I mean the book so entitled which in due place we may as far as shall be thought needfull examine Appen pa. 100. to pa. 106. Lastly he seems to accuse them of all the prodigious Doctrines which Colyer Spriggs Hobson and the rest of that Anabaptistical Enthusiasticall and phanatick strain of men have if indeed they be of them that have at any time said and unsaid whether such as they have derived from Nicolas Stock David George Thomas Muncer John of Leyden Cniperdolins c. and others of the same stamp in these latter times or such as either of them hath by a kind of Necromancy raised up from the ashes of Manes Samosatenus Arrius and other cursed Hereticks of antient times All these he would willingly inure upon the Antinomians i. e. upon them that will not say the same things with him who speaks the same things with the Jesuits in the point of Justification This he doth subtlely and underhand to beguile his unwary reader Append. pa. 99. Of all these onely the fift hath been as far as ever I could finde by any considerate and judicious person nicknamed with Antinonism untill Master Baxter and some other of his fellowes in these late years have taken upon them a Soveraignty as Lords and judges from Peters Chair which they have Canonized again to baptise with new names all the Doctrines of the Gospell that crosse the pride of their selfe-righteousnesse And even the sift it self in Scripture sense as I have before shewed is a Soul-comforting truth which we must no more suffer to be wrested from us than our Christ and all our happinesse by him vizt that God seeth not sin in his justified ones to impute iâ— to hate and condemn them for it Hee seeth not the guilt of any sin upon them having laid it and the condemnation to which it obliged upon Christ Jesus But that God doth not simply see sin in them either Originall or Actuall to act about it in a way of grace and truth according to his promises in Christ This I take to be a foppery the fruit of mens willfullnesse and pertinacity to have their own words and phrases stand as impregnable as Christs truth lapt up in them Let it be called Antinomism or Antigospellism or what else Master Baxter will stile it I shall not herein withstand him To me the truth and spirit of the Doctrines conteined in the word sufficeth the letter I shall no further propugn or oppugn than as through it the spirit and truth is levelled at To the first and second I have before spoken and let any man upon earth be produced that ever charged them with Antinomianism saving Master Baxter himselfe or one of his Disciples And if they be Antinomian Tenents then is Master Baxter one of those Antinomians being forced after his long and impotent cavill against as last to grant both as wee have before seen To the third I have also before answered Neither hath Master Baxter named nor can he I am confident name one man but either a Papist or at best an Arminian that before him hath either called Faith and Gospel obedience the Evangelicall Righteousnesse by which we are justified Or that hath denyed our gospell righteousnesse by which we are justified to be without us in Christ So that he pronounceth here all the orthodox of all Churches yea all professed Christians saving Papists Arminians and perhaps Socinians to be Antinomians So much of Antichristian pride and impudence possesseth him To the fourth and seventh I answer 1. That they are contradictory either to other For how can both be true that they affirm Justification to be a free Act of God without any condition on our part and yet teach also Faith or affiance in Christ to be a necessary condition of our Justification who shall take upon him to defend him that arraigneth and proveth himself to be a slanderer 2. Yet may it without contradiction be both affirmed that Justification as an act immanent and Eternall in God is absolute and without condition but as it is transient and Terminate upon the conscience of a believer not to be without condition 3. Because the Scripture never nameth Faith much lesse works the condition of Justification in time to question whether Faith itself may not more properly be termed by some other denominâ—tion in reference to justification than a Condition is no peece of Antinomism but a point of Christian prudence to consider and examine specially at such a time when Master Baxter and other of the Popes Factors under the word condition bestirre themselves to re-erect Justification by works 4. That Justification by that which Master Baxter abasingly calleth bare belief or affiance in Christ the Saviour i. e. by Faith without works is no Antinomian Doctrine but the Doctrine which Christ and Paul and the rest of the Apostles have preached and sealed with their blood that which all the reformed Churches have unanimâ—usly maintained and do maintain unto this day and that which Antichrist with his vassalls and others apostatized from the reformed Churches to them do pursue with fire and fury unto ruine With whom though Mr. Bax. come up in the rear driving Jehu like furiously in his Charriot to destroy it yet shall it stand impregnable as the prime Article of their Creed who either
every such person That these Antinomians of the former age were filthy dreamers loose livers such as turned the Grace of our Lord Jesus Christ into lasciviousness is very probable if not certain from that which Calvin and others have written against Antinomians and Libertines And from such we have no less abhorrence then Mr. Baxter But while Mr. Baxter declaimeth against the innocent hee proclaimes himselfe a rank Antinomian in teaching and maintaining that the perfect obedience and righteousnesse of the Law are not required and consequentially not due under the Gospel Islebius himself never spake so derogatorily to the righteousness of the Law CHAP. XXIII Arg. Mr. Baxters distinction of Justification in Title of Law and in Sentence of Judgement examined together with other distinctions equipollent to this Whether besides the present there be also a future Justification and whether it be begun and perfected together at once I should wholly have passed over the 37 38 39 and 40 Theses with their Explications as meerly shady imaginations voyd of all reality and substance without stopping to give them one word of answer For why should wee talke of Pictures that have no life in them were it not that it is Master Baxters drift to carry us through these wayes of his own chalking wholly from Christ under a pretext of leading us to Christ the Justifier To frustrate therefore his deceit I shall speak somewhat to these passages of his Tractate also Thes 37. pag. 183. B. Iustification is either in title and the sense of Law or in sentence of judgement The first may be called Constitutive the second Declarative the first Virtual the second Actual Lawyers have layd it down for a Maxim Non est distinguendum ubi Lex non distinguit i. e. We are not to distinguish of any point in the Law where the Law it self hath not made a distinction If the Laws of men are not much lesse are the Laws and Word of God to be violated with mens bold distinctions For this is no lesse then to bring Gods sacred Oracles into a subjection to mans vain fancies Let Mr. Baxter shew any Scripture that gives footing for the distinguishing of Justification into that which is in title of Law and that which is in sentence of judgement into constitutive and declarative or virtuall and actuall Justification These are the inventions of wanton wits in these latter times whose endeavour it hath been to tear in peeces and thereby wholly nullifie Gods Justification and to put many Justifications of their own in stead thereof We deny not a constitutive and declarative Justification in some sense but in Mr. Baxters sense we deny it It is granted that the Satisfaction which the Son by promise gave and the Father accepted for the sins of the Elect according to the Covenant between the Father and the Son before more then once mentioned did constitute the Elect justified in Christ before they were born who notwithstanding were not declared just to their own consciences before they actually beleeved nor to others until they manifested their Faith by their Works But Mr. Baxter explodes this constitutive and declarative Justification as an unsufferable abhomination and will not have his virtuality and actuality to these applyed And let him alleage any one Scripture that calls the sentence of life unto those that shall bee saved by grace that is to be pronounced in the last day Justification Or if he cannot but that the justification of the New Covenant wherever it be mentioned in the Word be that which is in this present life who sees not that his distinguishing here tends to the subverting of Scriptures and of the both virtual and actual Justification which the Scriptures speak of B. The Scripture speaks of it many times as a future thing and not yet done Rom. 3. 30. Mat. 12. 37. Rom. 2. 13. Explic pag. 185. This is all that he bringeth or can bring for Justification in the day of Judgement and this all is nothing It followeth not because these Scriptures speak of Justification as of a thing to come saying they shall be not they are justified that this Future tense doth point out the day of Judgement If I should say Mr. Baxter shall dye I should not be accused for speaking an untruth but if any will needs confine that shall to the day of Judgement that Mr. Baxter shall then dye who would not laugh at the absurdity of the consequence That of Mat. 12. 37. By thy words thou shalt be justified and by thy words thou shalt be condemned and that of Rom. 2. 13. Not the hearers but the doers of the Law shall be justified speak of Justification after the tenor and covenant of the Law not of Grace therefore pertain nothing to the present purpose Hee shall but Dare verba damnably deceive with words that teacheth men to seek for Justification by the righteousness of the Law consisting in deeds and words Whosoever indeed shall neither in word or deed be found a transgressor of the Law actually or originally shall be justified by his words and deeds But this man must be sought for out of a happier generation then those of the race of Adam else if we except Christ alone we must return our Non est inventus That of Rom. 3. 30. speaks indeed in the Future tense but may be as properly rendred by the word will as shall though the difference be not very considerable thus It is one God which will or shall justifie the circumcision by faith and the uncircumcision through Faith The Apostle here meaneth no otherwise speaking here in the Future then what he had said before in the Present Tense of Justification And it is as if he had said God hath decreed and declared his method of justifying both Jews Gentiles to be one and the same As long as there remain or succeed any upon earth of either part to be justified the purpose of God abides firm to justifie as wel the one as the other by faith and no one of either sort by Works neither circumcision nor uncircumcision shall avail or hinder any thing but Christ faith in Christ shall bee all unto all in this businesse as long as the world endureth And what is there then in this Text to pâ—ove Mr. Baxters declarative Justification in the day of Judgement Not that wee deny the adjudging of life in the day of Judgement to all that in this life were justified but the Scriptures terming this last sentence by the name of Justification whatsoever is said of Justification by Faith or Grace is still to be understood in this life And the whole reason that Mr. Baxter hath here to coyn a Justification in the day of judgement is to lay a foundation of Popish Justification by Works as by the sequele of this his Treatise will more fully appear Else would we not contend with him about meer words did they not tend to a destructive end and that we are taught
himself Sol. We make not man a stone nor degrade him into a dead block we grant of him that actus agit He hath not lost his free-will but all possibility of being saved by it all the spiritualnesse of it that without a new reparation of it it can will nothing in matters of salvation concurrent and conforming with the will of God But all mans actings of his faith when he is so renewed and moved by the prime cause is but to the receiving and application of his justification evidencâ—d to him As it is Gods instrument and acted by God so it is Gods evidence to manifest to him his justification It is Mr. Baxtâ—r and his fellowes that by their doctrine make mâ—n self-justifyers Teaching that Gods justification is conditionall and the alone instrument of God therein viz. the Gospell holds forth the same universally to all no lesse effâ—ctually to them that reject it then to them that embrace it But that it is a mans faith and obedience begun and continued in untill the day of judgment that makes this justification to be the justification of each singular person that is to be justifyed and so Gods instrument of justification justifyeth but conditionally i. e. no one singular man actually and absolutely It 's man that by his faith and works makes Gods universall justification to be his proper justification and Gods conditionall justification to be his actually and absolutely It is God that justifyeth all with a common and conditionall justification but it is every mans task to make and his own act when he hath made this justification to be really and undoubtedly his Therefore he doth but gaze here to finde a moate in his brothers eies fastening the beam in his own B. 3. For as Aquinas the action of the Principall cause and of the instrument is one action and who dare say that faith is so Gods instrument 4. The instrument must have influx to the producing of the effect by a proper causality and who dare say that faith hath such an influx into our justification I couple these two together because they are as twins that shew no malignity in their faces but are by Mr. Baxter made to carry fire in their tails Who dares to say and who dare say What if we should say it must we expect a broken head from the Challenger Is it but a word and a blow with him Or doth he affright us with Gods judgments from saying it is it his meaning who hath so little fear or conscience towards God as to offend him and derogate from his glory in saying it O that there had been but a moytie of the reverence and conscience toward God to annihilate man and advance the glory of Gods grace in Mr. Baxter which aboundeth in many of those whom he here opposeth he then surely would have cast this pernicious pamphlet of his into hell-fire if it had been possible rather then published it to the nulling of Gods and deifying of mans righteousnesse But to the matter we dare and that in the fear and presence of God to aver 1. That the declaration of a man to his own conscience and evidencing to his soul that he is justifyed in Christ to be the one and same action of God the principall cause and of faith the instrument The declaration and manifestation of justification to the soul is here the action God as the principall cause doth it by faith his evidence and instrument faith as the instrument and evidence doth it from God as the principall cause in manner before expressed God healed Naaman of his Leprosie by the water of Jordan as his instrument did many wonders in Egypt and in the Sea and in the wildernesse by Moses his Rod as his instrument subverted the wals and Towers of Jericho by the instrumentall subserviency of mens voices and the sound or winde of Rams horns and Trumpets Christ gave sight to the blind man by a plaister of clay applyed to his eyes Will he not acknowledg all these wonders to be the actions both of God the principall cause and of these so feeble instruments also The despicablenesse of the instruments and means do not spoyl God of but visibly attribute unto God the whole glory of his grace and power which in the use of more noble instruments would not appear so sensibly unto some apprehensions much more is the same action the action both of God and faith his instrument and this without all seeming ground of contradiction when we attribute not to faith any instrumentality under God to the working or effecting but only to the declaring and evidencing to man his justification before effected and compleated in God and in Christ And 2. That faith as Gods instrument hath influx in its kinde to produce this effect the evidencing of mans justification to himself by a proper causality I mean not Mr. Baxter I thinke means not by a causality that is naturally its own and proper to it but by a proper causality which God hath given it in appointing and using it as his instrument to produce the effect Will deny any this to be true of the forementioned instruments He that made them his instruments begat in them a causality and power instrumentally by and under him to produce those effects Indeed to Mr. Baxter in respect of his principles that denies Justification as an immanent act in God constituting and accepting us righteous and will have this to be done only by a temporaneous and transient act of God by the grace of the new Covenant these assertions must seem to have some monstrosity upon their faces that faith should be so the instrument of God in justifying or making us just Yet such as he can easily swallow because on the other side his justification is but an universall conditionall justification i. e. a justification in a possibility or impossibility but not at all in being and that faith should be termed the conditionall instrument of God in producing a conditionall justification I see not why it should set the man in a chafe he puts the dare to it therefore I suppose to make it too hot for the swallowing of weak and fearfull Christians To them that know whosoever are justifyed in themselves that is declared to be such within their own consciences the same were justifyed in God in Christ from all eternity so that faiâ—t is Gods instrument only to evidence them to themselves and in themselves justifyed not to justifie them in Gods mind and will for there they are justifyed without instruments there is nothing formidable nor rough in these assertions The objection which he addes by which he pretends we seek to evade we own not neither have we need in the defence of truth to seek evasions Let him name some one of his some that have so objected a passive instrument of justification or else leave us to conclude that the objection is of his own head partly to take advantage thereby yet
or conditionall offer thereof to us Nor any thing to the justified and actually declared just in themselves Justification is no longer in a conditionall offer to them but in its absolute being within them Whatsoever therefore he addeth there pag. 43 44. is wide from the question being not limited to the Justification of the New Covenant which is the subject of his Treatise which here he shunneth and talketh extravagantly about sanctification because he cannot confute the absolute justification but that it doth and will stand and standing will not admit a conditional justification to stand with it and by it in its beeing though the offer thereof before it is in beeing be conditionall And this is all which at length he concludeth pag. 45. of the conditionall Covenant of Grace which without all this circuition would have been granted him viz. that it is propounded and offered to mankinde conditionally if they will beleeve and without this faith none hath or shall have the benefit and comfort thereof to themselves and in themselves because all these that do not or shall not being in a capacity to beleeve are reprobates and as many as are elect shall come to Christ and beleeve in him as hath been before shewed What he addeth for the application may have some pertinency to the matter there objected but it hath none to the thing here in question Therefore I passe it by as not concerning us 2. To his Causa sine qua non briefly thus 1 In so tearming Faith he denyes faith to be any cause at all of our Justification for that is but Causa â—quivoca or nomine tenus or titulo tenus hath but the name not the nature of a cause hath no causality upon gives no influx into the effect 2 Neither whatsoever it be is Faith the Causa sine qua non of Justification in that sense as Mr. Baxter taketh and defineth it either in his stricter or larger definition except he will say that no Infants are justified who do not cannot accept Christ much lesse so beleeve as in his larger definition he sets forth faith 3 Faith is not the Causa sine qua non of our justification in God no nor yet in Christs Justification as he tearms it for these are antecedaneous to our faith and our faith not an antecedent to it 4 At the utmost it can be but the Causa sine qua non of Gods declaring and evidencing of our selves to our selves justified and this justification Mr. Baxter so disdaineth and snuffs at that he will not own it much lesse mention it Yet can he not with all his Sophistry name any other act of justification in this life whereof faith can be proved to be the Antecedent Medium or Causa sine qua non 5 Why doth he call faith and all the conqualifications wherewith he loadeth the shoulders thereof and all the works which he makes its Concomitants the Causa sine qua non as if all these with their Colaterall in the other scale of his ballance Christs satisfaction did make up the one and sole Causa sine qua non of our justification can none else be named Besides other the weaknesse and infirmity of the Law to justifie as it removes the impediment of justifiablenesse in Gods Court of strict Justice For had there been a Law given which could have given life verily righteousnesse should have been by the Law Gal. 3. 21. and sin which removes the same impediment might more properly and socially then Christs satisfaction have been placed on horseback in the same saddle of Causa sine qua non had not Mr. Baxter thought Christ would blesse but these would have defiled this golden saddle of his own either making or appropriating to this use and so bespattered and undressed the righteousnesse of his Qualifications and good works that they would never more become fit to ride on horsback in procession with the Holy Wafer Thus his condition and Causa sine qua non must be new modelled ere they will be Canonicall But see we here the mans wit which never fails him at a dead lift What he cannot act by power he seeks to compasse by a stratagem Because he cannot cover the nakednesse of his assertion he labors to make bare ours and cast filth in it that having diverted the eyes of his Reader thither he may forget the vanity of his Condition or Causa sine qua non And thus he doth it B. Here by the way take notice that the samemen thus blame the advancing of Faith so high as to be our true Gospel Righteousnesse Posit 17 20. and to be imputed in a proper sense Posit 23. do yet when it comes to tryall ascribe far more the faith then those they blame making it Gods instrument in justifying In examining all these quoted Theses I have shewed both who they are which blame him or at least his doctrine which was born before ever he commenced such a Doctor viz. All the Orthodox Protestant Divines and Christians and withall for what they blame it viz. as it is Papism Socinianism and at the best Arminianism 3. To which I have also made out their just grounds of blaming it as may be there seen yet to cheat his Reader he cals these those very men as if there were some few contemptible Antinomians lately sprung up when himself knows them to be all the Churches of Christ which since the Reformation have been called Protestants But of what blasphemy or evill fact doth he accuse them That they ascribe more to Faith then those they blame making it Gods instrument in justifying Yea but we have seen or thought we had seen at least just grounds for their so doing how doth Mr. Baxter aggravate it to make it odious B. 1. And so to have part of the honour of Gods own Act. Fie upon the Hugonets and Lutherans if this be true who then will not run from them at Mr. Baxters heels to Rome But the Scriptures make Balaams Aâ—se Gods instrument to rebuke the madnesse of the Prophet Namb. 22. 28 30. 2 Pet. 2. 15 16. The Raven his Instrument to feed Elijah 1 King 17. 6. The brazen Serpent his instrument of healing the Israelites bitten with firie Serpents Joh. 3. 14. Numb 21. 9. The Assyrians his instruments of chastising and reforming his people Isa 10. 5. c. and the very Devil his instrument of trying Job Job 1. 12. and of executing his pleasure upon Ahab 2 King 22. 21 22. Shall we now fall foul with the Scriptures and accuse them that they ascribe part of the honour of Gods own acts to the Asse the Raven the Serpent the Assyrians the Devil by affirming these to be the instruments by which God acted Doth not the seeblenesse of the means and instruments speak out the whole honour of the action to pertain to the Lord Was it to honour his slaves and abase his freemen and subjects the Lords Israel that Solomon made the former
Scripture may be judge and that they will put by no one Text to that end produced till they can give some other commodious and not forced interpretation We gladly accept this rule of dispute and pronounce all other rules in Questions of this kinde to be irregular Yet have we somewhat to say to the proposer of it 1 Why hath he in the former part of this Tractate so much wandered from the rule of Scripture as insufficient or improper to try his opinions and make use in stead of it of so much exotick learning the Jesuits sophistry and Socinus his right reason as if the Scripture were not but these were to be attended on as proper Judges in such matters 2 When all the Scriptures which he here bringeth to prove a cooperation of workes with faith to justification scarce any one of them excepted as I undertake if he call me to it to shew have been alleaged by the Monkes and Jesuits against us and been answered over and over a hundred times by our Divines why doth he here urge them as Scriptures of his own collection and require an interpretation to be given to them that might manifest they hold not forth Justification by works how doth he abase the Ministers his readers for whose seducing he hath compiled this Book by imprinting within himselfe a supposition that their Libraries consist only of Aristotle and Schibler and that they are as ignorant of the controversie between the Papists and us as they were born Else if he supposed they had read such controversies he would not have called for an interpretation of these Scriptures as now first alleaged by himselfe Simplicity in handling the truths of Christ is necessary to declare the heart upright If Mr. Baxter had possessed such a jewell within his bosome he would have exploded all tricks of subtlety and craft with an Anathema Maranatha and told us plainly these Scriptures have been urged by the Papists for their justification by works that the Protestants have said somewhat to elude the force of such Scriptures by forced interpretations of them but against every interpretation of every such Scripture he thus and thus excepteth and desireth these exceptions of his to be answered else he cannot be convinced but that works cooperate with faith to Justification But in the midst of a room that is hung with a thousand candles and torches to cry out O that some one would give me one spark of light in this dark dungeon this is no lesse then to pronounce all save himself within the room blind that in the midst of light they see nothing Or otherwise to pronounce all these lights darknesse in comparison of his more shining light Let not Mr. Baxter so contemn all the Anti-papisticall worthies as smoaking snuffs in comparison of his beames nor think all his yoak-fellowes in the Ministry at the present to be such glow-wormes and slimy sots that being thus spitted with his base esteem of them they should be insensible of it and goe away rejoycing as sprinkled with his holy water 3 Why doth he only quote Scriptures and bring for himself and against us only Arithmeticall figures and ciphers without the words of those Scriptures and telling us how they make for him against us would he have us to understand that he means to argue from them no otherwise then the Priests and Jesuites have done before him we might then answer all in a word by sending him to those pretious servants of Christ who have answered the Argumentations of these Priests and Jesuites from these Scriptures Or is it to straighten us with a doubtfulnesse what to answer because we know not how he will argue from these Scriptures and to reserve to himself an advantage to except against all our answers that we have not spoken to the purpose he meant not so but thus and thus to have argued from these Testimonies What better answer to such a roving disputer then to leave him roving untill he will cease from circling and fall upon some point wherein he will declare himself that he would be answered This I should do had it been my only purpose to have answered Mr. Baxter but because my aime was and is least to grapple with him from whom I expect nothing better but many things worse after all wiser mens endeavours then mine and could shew reason for it but chiefly to preserve the single hearted Christians free from his infection I shall not wholly passe by without examination these Scriptures that none by the misunderstanding of Scriptures may be carryed into Anti-scripturall errors 4 But how seasonable is the Caution that he gives us to take heed of giving any uncommodious or forced interpretation to those Scriptures which the Papists and after them the Socinians have urged for their justification by workes As if all our Divines and Martyrs for Christ in these last 200. years have abused the Seriptures with false interpretations and so have been Apostates from Christ in departing from Rome and that the Jesuits and Socinians have been the only sincere interpreters of Scriptures when contrariwise all that have but looked over the pale into their writings find nothing so sacred no Scripture so plain which they do not violate and distort with their Sophisticall cavillations That Hell it self hath in no age vomited out any brood of hereticks that can parallell these in audacious abuse and violation of Scriptures yet while Mr. Baxter fights with their Arguments and maintains their assertions he cals upon us Take heed abuse not Scriptures 5 Why doth he not produce first seeing he professeth himself a Protestant and Anti-papist those manifold and cleer Scriptures which all the Protestant Churches alleage for stablishing of justification by faith alone and the expelling of works from having any part with faith in this work and answer their Arguments drawn from such Scriptures before he brings in the Scriptures which the Jesuits have muâ—â—ered up against their assertion At least why doth he not declare as well what the Protestants have to say for themselves as what the Papists have to say against them that both sides may be heard But to make a roar on the one side and to exhibit the other party as mute as fishes having nothing to say or reason to give for their own Religion nor to gainsay the adversaries in opposing it is this fair and Christian dealing Thus to stifle our cause or rather the cause of Christ in darkenesse and to imprison the light by which we have walked from the time of Luther untill this day what doth it argue in him lesse then what Christ tels us He that doeth evill hateth the light neither cometh to the light lest his deeds which are evill should be reproved Joh. 3. 20. These things thus premised let us come now to the Scripture making it the Judge and touchstone in this Controversie But so as that it shall be requisite for me to supply what Mr. Baxter hath left untouched
which before they detested as cursed and withall to shew how degenerate these are from our antient worthies who as Champions of Christ have defended this article of justification against the whole rabble of Antichrist I shall declare how little difference they were wont to put beteen merits and conditions that though they held somewhat to differ in the sound yet held them to be one in substance and still concluded against the Papists that there is no place for works in the office of justification either as merits or conditions thereof but that when the Scripture saith we are justifyed without works all works both of Law and Gospell are excluded from being any way subservient to justification either to the beginning or finishing thereof either as meriting it or conditioning us for it I shall mention only some few lest I should seem to attribute much to the authority of men yet so that these few speak out the mind and deliver the common judgement of all the rest First I shall produce that famous Martyrologist Mr. Fox what he speaketh to this purpose in that book of his De Christo gratis justificante Having alleaged that testimony of the Apostle Rom. 4. 16. It is of faith that it might be of grace to the end that the promise might be sure c. he addeth Atqui quonam modo firma nisi sit gratuita Fox de Christo gratis Justif p. 127. aut quo modo gratuita si quoquam modo ex operibus i. e. But how is the promise sure except it be free or in what manner or respect free if in any manner or respect it be of works Thus he excludeth works in all respects either of causality or conditionality from justification Again Duo sunt promissionum genera plurimum inter Idem ibid. p. 221. se diversa alterum ad legem spectans certis adnexum conditionibus alterum Evangelii proprium sine omni legis conditione gratuitum i. e. There are two kinds of promises made in Scripture much differing either from other the one legall tyed to certain conditions the other Evangelicall or proper to the Gospell free and without all conditions of the Law not tyed to any conditions as the legall promises are Unto him I annex Dr. Fulk in that Sermon of his which Mr. Fox translated out of English into Latine and annexed to the end of that Tractate of his own before-mentioned Isaac not Ismael saith he had the inheritance Quia nimirum unica ad hanc Dr. Fulkii concio p. 13. haereditatem perveniendi via patet per solam promissionem solam misericordiam solam fidem Ismael vero juxta carnem natus est Isaac per promissionem Haereditas autem sola nititur promissione promissio vero nulla meritorum pactione sed sola Dei misericordia perficitur i. e. Because there is opened one only way to the inheritance viz. by promise alone mercy alone faith alone But Ismael was born after the flesh Isaac by promise But the inheritance is grounded upon promise only and the promise is accomplished without any paction or condition of works by the sole mercy of God And a little after Certissimos se haeredes sciant ii qui ad Isaaci exemplum ita se comparant Id. ibid. p. 19. ut nullo alio ad eam titulo adnitantur nisi sola Dei promissione quique non nisi gratia solum ad eam adspirant qui denique fide eam sola amplectuntur non meritis non operum studiis viam ad eam affectant i. e. Let them know themselves to be most certain heirs who after the pattern of Isaac do bend to it upon no other title but the alone promise of God and who aspire to it by grace alone and lastly who embrace it by faith onely and affect not the way to it by merits or any endevours of their own works And anon after Quemadmodum legale justitiae foedus Id. ibid. p. 22. exquisitam omnibus modis innocentiam ita flagitat ut nullam veniae spem largiatur delinquenti ita Evangelica altera illa icta nobiscum pactio misericordiae justitiam nobis gratuitam exhibet nullamque exigit operum adjunctam conditionem i. e. Even as the legall covenant of justice so requires of us an innocency in all respects exquisite that it gives no hope of pardon to the offender So that other Gospell Covenant of mercy made with us holds forth to us a free righteousnesse and requires no additory condition of works And in the next page he affirmes the promise or covenant of the Gospell to be gratuitam omnibus nullisque impeditam Id. p. 23. conditionibus free to all men or from all and intangled with no conditions In the third place I annex Mr. Calvin that great light shining from the hand of Christ upon all the reformed Churches Inde justificare dicitur fides saith he quod oblatam in Evangelio justitiam recipit amplectitur Quod autem per Evangelium dicitur offerri eo excluditur omnis operum consideratio i. e. Faith is hence said to justifie because it receiveth and embraceth the righteousnesse offered in the Gospell But in that it is said to be offered in the Gospell hereby all consideration of works is excluded and so works in all considerations either of causality or conditionality totally rejected And having proved this from the difference which the Apostle putteth between the Law and the Gospell Rom. 10. 3 deinceps he addeth Videsne ut legis Evangelii discrimen hoc faciat Calv. Just lib. 3. cap. 11. §. 17. quod illa operibus justitiam tribuat hoc citra operum subsidium gratuitam largiatur i. e. Ye see what difference he maketh between the Law and the Gospell that the Law attributeth righteousnesse to works the Gospell gives it free without the assistance of works An excellent place saith he and that which will extricate us from many difficulties if we understand cam quae datur nobis per Evangelium justitiam legis conditionibus solutam esse i. e. that the righteousnesse which is given us by the Gospell is cleared from the conditions of the Law And then speaking of the opposition that the Apostle maketh between the Law and the Promise Gal. 3. 18. It cannot be denyed saith he that the Law hath also its Promises and therefore there must be something in the Promises of the Gospell distinct from those of the Law else could there be no such opposition and concludes that the difference is this that the Gospell promises are free ac sola Dei misericordia suffultae quum legis promissiones ab operum conditione pendeant i. e. and leaning upon the sole mercy of God when the promises of the Law depend upon the condition of works Likewise in the next Section from that of Gal. 3. 2. Hab. 2. 4. we are not justifyed by the Law because the just shall live by faith he addeth that this argument cannot stand
unlesse it be consented unto in calculum fidei non venire opera sed prorsus Idem ibid. §. 18. separanda esse i. e. that works have nothing to do in the borders of faith to justifie but must be wholly separated from it and proceeds that the Law and faith are here opposed Therefore because works are required to the righteousnesse of the one ergo sequitur ad hujus justitiam non requiri it follows therefore that they are not required to the righteousnesse of the other and further in the same place Herein the Gospell differs from the Law quod operibus non alligat justitiam sed in sola dei misericordia collocat that it binds not righteousnesse to works but placeth it in the sole mercy of God And Fides sine operum adminiculo c. Faith without any proppage of works resteth wholly upon mercy And that wherewith he concludes this Section That the righteousnesse by which we are justifyed is not ushered into our possession by works nec operando nos eam consequi sed vacuos accedere ut eam recipiamus i. e. not that we attain it by working but come with our hands empty of all works to be filled with it With those agreeth Ph. Melanchthon Evangelium offert remissionem per imputationem justitiae vitam aeternam sine conditione legis aut operum nostrorum i. e. the Gospell offers remission by the imputation of righteousnesse and eternall life without condition of the Law or our works Again Vulgo imaginantur homines Evangelium esse promissionem conditionalem at ab hac imaginatione abducendi sunt i. e. Men must be drawn off from that vulgar imagination that the Gospell is a conditionall promise And upon Rom. 4. Credens est salvus sola fide sine operibus Neque nostra obedientia aut causa est aut conditio propter quam accepti sumus coram Deo i. e. He that beleeveth is saved by faith only without works Neither is our obedience either a cause or a condition for which we are accepted before God So Zanchius in Hos 2. 21. Notandum est hanc esse simplicem Evangelicam sine omni conditione promissionem Hic nihil exigit Deus sed simpliciter promittit quod velit ipse c. This is a simple and Evangelicall promise which is without all condition where God requireth nothing but simply promiseth what he pleaseth As for Luther it is superfluous to cite him being every where so full both in the positing and confirming of this doctrine let but his Sermon upon Tit. 3. 5. be read he shall be there found calling it devillish doctrine and the teachers thereof Hypocrites who teach salvation to be far off and not already attained and to be sought for by works concluding Quicunque salutem non ex mera gratia per fidem ante omnia opera c. whosoever receives not salvation out of meer grace by faith before all works he shall never be saved I had a purpose to have annexed the Testimonies of some more of the Chieftains against Antichrist but there is no need Mr. Baxter for his part is not a Zizca warreth not by other mens eyes seeth and knoweth against whom he levelleth is not ignorant that all especially the more antient and unsophisticated worthies of all the Churches speak the same things and in the same tone with these against the Papists Neither was it my purpose to deal at all in this passage with Mr. Baxter but to shew the vanity of some Pharisaicall Cabalisticall Sophisticall but little Scripturall and Theologicall Rabbies who with Anti-evangelicall spirits partly to set up again a Babell or Babylon of works as a mount against Antinomianism as they term the liberty and purity of the Gospell and partly in a prostrate devotion wherewith they sacrifice to every Barbarism and Aphorism of exotick arts to which they must submit though it be to the denying of the whole word of God for fear they should not be reckoned Scholars are ready to gallop after Mr. Baxters Sophisticall Lectures into the very Lateran of Rome not knowing whence they run nor whither whose company they leave and whose they follow such levity and giddinesse hath taken their head-pieces that as having gotten a professed Protestant Divine to lead them into the worst sink of Popery they run with head and shoulders thronging who shall be foremost so no doubt if under the profession or misprision of a Jesuite Paul himself should descend to preach again and maintain the Doctrine of the Gospell in all its verity power and purity and not in a dialecticall phrase they would throw it back in his face as Jesuiticall and devillish For without such lightnesse and emptinesse it were impossible for them to be so suddenly and easily whirled into an applause of an assertion so grosly and palpably Popish and Damning by a peevish veneration of the learning and holinesse of the Penman thereof As if among the Jewish Scribes and Pharisees and Popish Monkes and Jesuits there were not to be found in depth of Learning and strictnesse of Legall righteousnesse many to whom this man may possibly serve and but serve as a shaddow But it sufficeth here to have manifested that the Doctrine of Mr. Baxter is totally the same in this particular with the doctrine of the Jesuits Or if in any respect we shall find it in what remains to be examined not wholly the same I doubt not but in every such difference which we shall meet with to demonstrate that it is far worse then theirs Or if it be not so let him produce any one knowing man within any of the Protestant Churches except he will make the Concision of Socinians and Arminians the true Protestants that hath ever taught or held this doctrine CHAP. III. The first Argument for Justification by Works drawn from Scriptures examined The Scriptures cited prepared to Mr. Baxters hand by the Papists and the Protestants answer to all the Arguments drawn from those Scriptures by the Papists by him concealed and the abhorrency of those Scriptures from the conclusion which they are brought to prove demonstrated HAving in part supplyed what Mr. Baxter would have buryed here in silence some of the Scriptures and Arguments from Scriptures which are brought by the Protestants to remove works from having concurrence with faith in the businesse of justifying let us now examine the Scriptures which he quoteth to prove their cooperation with faith to justifie Here as I said we meet not with words but figures partly therefore because he maintains the same assertion with the Papists partly because the Scriptures which he quoteth are all such as the Papists have urged before him against us so that he hath taken them up at the second hand as they were collected to his hand by the Fryers and Jesuits himself not expressing how he would argue from those Scriptures I conceive it is his desire that we should understand he means so to argue
Whosoever shall call upon the name of the Lord shall Rom. 10. 13 14. be saved How then shall they call upon him in whom they have not beleeved His argumentation runs thus Whosoever do rightly call upon the name of the Lord shall be saved but beleevers only call rightly upon the name of the Lord ergo beleevers only shall be saved He argues here from the effect to the cause from acceptable prayer to faith from whence it floweth concluding that salvation is promised to prayer not as it is an act performed in its self but as it is a fruit of faith ascribing all the furtherance unto salvation by prayer to faith that breaths it out and all the efficacy which faith hath to salvation to the Lord i. e. the grace of God or Christ the Mediatour beleeved in So making faith to be that which in the vertue of its object saveth and not prayer either in its act or in respect of the spirituall disposition of the heart to pray And with the Apostles argument from prayer to faith I might also argue to manifest that the Scriptures which Mr. Baxter quoteth to prove that forgiving of others is a collaterall condition with faith to justification or forgivenesse have no force in them to prove such a conclusion viz. Mat. 6. 12 14 15. Forgive us our debts as we forgive our debtours for if we forgive men their trespasses your heavenly father will also forgive you but if ye forgive not men their trspasses neither will your heavenly father forgive your trespasses Mat. 18. 35. So likewise shall my heavenly father do to you also if ye from your hearts forgive not every man to his brother their trespasses The like also in Mar. 11. 25 26. When ye stand praying forgive c. as in the former Scriptures Luke 6. 35. Forgive and ye shall be forgiven Isa 5. 15. And the prayer of faith shall save the sick and if he hath committed sins they shall be forgiven him Joh. 14. 13 14. Whatsoever ye shall aske in my Name I will do it c. 1 Joh. 5. 15. Whatsoever we aske we know that we have the petitions that we desired of him The rest have nothing of sound much lesse of substance to the purpose for which they are quoted How much these Scriptures together with those of the former bunch that were intended by Mr. Baxter for the foysting in of Repentance and of the next bundle that he would have to force in all the works of love and obedience into the office of justification may prevail with some simple and ignorant persons I know not For these not being able to compare Scripture with Scripture and spirituall things with spirituall nor to search into the pith and bottom of Scriptures are carried as the Apostle saith with every wind and sound of doctrine whither their seducers will But I do not comprehend what Mr. Baxters designe is who having compiled this work chiefly if not only for the reading of the Learned should fardle up together these Scriptures to deceive such for the very quotations will send them not only to the Scriptures but also to the Commentators upon these severall Scriptures where they must needs find him and the Jesuits so wresting from them the same doctrine and Mr. Baxter so fully answered in their answer to the Jesuites that his Readers will not be able to decide which is the verier Jesuit he or those whom he followeth I had a thought therefore to transmit the Reader to the Commentators But to manifest to the simple how little there is in substance in these quoted Scriptures making for Mr. Baxter I shall interpose these few things 1 That the Scriptures are all of Gods inspiration concenting together in oâ—e harmony no where dashing either against other no more then God their Author dasheth against himself so that we must necessarily conclude that neither all nor any one of these Scriptures doth in its proper and genuine sense contradict those before alleadged Scriptures of justification by faith and not by works by faith without works by the righteousnesse of faith and not by our own righteousnesse by the law of faith in opposition to the law of works c. as before If then these Scriptures should bring in justification and remission but in part by our own works and righteousnesse Scripture would here be set in commotion against Scripture and God against God 2 Mr. Baxter doth here make this work of forgiving and praying for forgivenesse as also in the next place all love obedience and the works thereof not simply conditions of justification and forgivenesse which in some sense far from Mr. Baxters some of our Theologists admit but collaterally and in the same relation with faith and this is the highest toppe of Papall presumption not the worst of Jesuits speak more derogatorily to the depressing of Gods grace or more proudly to the exalting of mans works worth and righteousnesse 3 From this doctrine of his it would follow that praying and forgiving others must be such a condition of justification that where it is there is justification where it is not there is not justification the positing or not positing of the one including the summe of the other for so it is with faith He that beleeveth shall be saved he that beleeveth not shall be damned Mark 16. 16. so Joh. 3. 36. Will Mr. Baxter say so of forgiving others and praying for forgivenesse are all that do it justifyed dares he to say it No otherwise but with his caeteris paribus and sensu composito if he doth this and all things else which a Christian should do And thus I might also make every civill and indifferent Action the condition of justification A mans sleeping by night and working by day his eating when he is hungry and drinking when he is thirsty his improving of his groundâ— before he sowes them and sowing them when improved and reaping them when the crop is come to maturity all these and the like may be as well called conditions of justification for these also caeteris paribus when all things else are done which a Christian should do do stand as full in strength to justification as those works which Mr. Baxter particularizeth yea this caeteris paribus makes sin guilt ungodlinesse perdition c. more properly conditions of justification then any of those which Mr. Baxter nameth for without the actuall being of those none can be justifyed in Christ before God For Christ Came not to call the righteous but sinners to Repentance Mat. 9. 13. He hath shut up all under guilt under sin that the promise of righteousnesse by the faith of Jesus Christ might be upon all that beleeve Rom. 3. 19 22 23 24. He justifyeth the ungodly Rom. 4. 5. And saveth that which was lost Mat. 18. 11. Are these duties to be performed coordinately with faith that we may be justifyed surely rather then those which Mr. Baxter nameth for these still go before
passed thorough after men are dead With hundreds more of the same kind and worth wherein it seems Mr. Baxter here would imitate them to ingratiate himself into their favour As for the residue of Mr. Baxters quotations in this place they are for the most part if not all urged in another place to prove works the condition of our glorification and future salvation and untill then I forbear to answer them But lest any in the interim should stand doubting at any of the Scritures hâ—re quoted promising either love or life or grace or glory to men thus and thus qualifyed and conceive that such qualifications are the ground and condition together with faith to in right us in that which is promised I think it fit to premonish by the way what all Protestant writers have â—maintained and cleared against the Papists that the ground of our right in such selicities promised is not the qualifications or works of the person but the new relation of the person so qualifyed his union with Christ justification and adoption before God Such promises not being made to all but to the Saints in Christ so doing I shall clear it up to you by a similitude Isaac promiseth his son Esau his blessing but bids him go a hunting and bring him venison and then in eating it he will blesse him what was that which enrighted Esau to the blessing that was the ground or condition upon which Isaac would blesse him the venison caught and dressed nothing lesse for if a 1000. others should have presented him with a 1000. pieces of venison at severall times all dressed and fitted to his appetite the blessing should have been reserved entire for Esau and they all have been sent away empty as appeareth by his dealing with Jacob presenting his made venison how agreeing so ever the dish was to the palate of the old Patriark yet he will examine thorowly who it is whether his very son Esau that brings it before he gives the blessing It was not then the venison but the sonrship yea primo-geniture of Esau that was the ground and condition of Isaacs promise to blesse him So is it also to his justifyed and adopted ones in Christ that the Lord saith Aske and ye shall have seek and ye shall finde knock and it shall be opened to you Run and ye shall obtain Overcome and ye shall be crowned Love and I will love you Be mercifull and I will be mercifull to you Humble your selves and I will lift you up and a thousand more such promises of grace as far as they hold forth spirituall and saving blessings they are the Childrens bread dispensations of God within his own family no stranger hath part in it or right to it Let the world those that are not beloved aske seek knock run fight c. the Lord may possibly out of the goodnesse of his providence infinitenesse of his wisdome and bounty of his nature reward with corporall and temporall good things their carnall and temporall endeavours but untill by the spirit of adoption they are through faith united to Christ they have no right by the new Covenant to make claim to the spirituall and saving blessings promised neither are they any otherwise to be ratifyed to any but as they were beloved of God in Christ before there were any such qualifications and motions in them as Mr. Baxter cals conditions as hath been before declared Yea suppose that Esau could not have brought the venison to his Father had been hindered or drawn aside from seeking it or seeking could not find it or finding could not have taken and brought it should the promise and purpose of Isaac to blesse him for this cause have failed He performed not the condition he shall therefore be bereaved of the blessing Nothing lesse for the generall and fundamentall ground and condition the relation of a son of the first-born son stood still fixed unto which the good will of the Father and the blessing in the Fathers purpose was entailed In like manner though a child of God fail in some of the works and qualifications which Mr. Baxter cals conditions of the new Covenant yet this makes not the promise of the Covenant or the beneficence of the Covenanter promising to be void because these are grounded so far as they are grounded out of God upon Christ our union unto Christ and new relation to God in Christ All which I doubt not shall be made manifest in its own place only what hath been said I thought fit to be said by the way for the prevention of doubts and perplexities that might ingage the weak reader before we come thither I should here have put an end to what I had to say to his first Argument drawn from Scriptures having spoken to all that in this place are quoted saving those which he brings again elsewhere for which place I have put off my examination of them But that p. 310. he comes with a new supply Lest therefore I should make another work of it there or minister occasion to any of saying that where his Argument is most fortifyed there I shun and shrink from answering I shall examine here also what force such of those Scriptures as have not been here quoted and examined have to prove justification by works and so much the rather because he tels us there that the assertion is evident from these following Scriptures B. Mat. 12. 37. By thy words thou shalt be justifyed and by thy words thou shalt be condemned Justification and Condemnation seem here by our Saviours testimony to depend upon the sinfull and blamelesse use of our tongues Ergo upon works We may grant all in our Saviours sense without advantaging Mr. Baxters cause or endammaging our own For the Lord Christ here directeth his words to those Legall Jewish Pharisaicall Justiciaries who stuck fast to the righteousnesse of the Law for justification and in zeal thereof blasphemed as in the precedent part of the Chapter upon which this dependeth is to be seen Christ and his Gospell This blasphemy Christ here reproveth and smiteth with a weapon fetcht out of their own Armory Even your own law forbids such evill words and blasphemies holding forth Justification and Condemnation not only upon condition of good and evill works but words also so that there is nothing spoken of the justification of the New but of the Old Covenant only A reprehension and commination pat to them to whom it was denounced the threat of the Law to them that refused the Gospell and were and would be under the Law But this is nothing to the justification of the new Covenant that followes the rule of the Gospell The next Scripture not contained and examined in the former sardle of quotations is B. 1 Joh. 1. 9 If we confesse our sins God is faithfull to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from our iniquities Here confession another work seems to be a condition of forgivenesse and justification
to Christ that they perish not by following their own thoughts What then shall become of the wicked which are wholly full of corruption and unbeleef without any spark of faith and whom the Lord hath given up to a spirit of slumber like Bastards without all Chastisements hindering to roll themselves into ruine B. Rom. 6. 16. His servants ye are to whom ye obey whether of sin unto death or of obedience unto righteousnesse The Apostle here speaketh of the righteousnesse not of Justification but of Sanctification except we will say he here digresseth from that which he makes the subject of this whole Chapter But whether he means the righteousnesse of justification or of sanctification yet the obedience he here speaketh of is that which cap. 1. ver 5. he declares himself to have received commission and Apostleship to preach viz. obedience to the faith the suâ—me whereof is faith in Christ Jesus What he would infer from his two last quotations 1 Pet. 1. 2. 22. Let him that can understand declare and make answer to it I yeeld that his profoundnesse condemns my shallownesse I dare not contradict him in what he would because I have not the wit to imagin what he would say It seems he had determined such a number of quotations and took at adventure those that came next to his view to make up that precise number Any other Scriptures besides these being as to my apprehension no lesse pat and proper to his purpose then these CHAP. IV. The vanity and ridiculousnesse of Mr. Baxters second and third Arguments discovered The former that Because faith is the more principall and works the lesse prinpall condition of our Justification and that all other duties are in some respect or other reducible to faith therfore we may be said to be justifyed by other works and duties yet to be justifyed by faith alone The second drawn from a wide and irregular definition of faith that it containeth all works in its belly therefore whosoever is justifyed by those works is justifyed by faith only A second Argument he drawes from an anticipation of an objection which he prevents by turning the edge of it against the objectors and applying it to the strengthening of his own assertion The objection that he sees in readinesse against him is that this doctrine of justification by duties and works wholly overthroweth that highest and most fundamentall Gospel doctrine of justification by faith alone This he denies and affirmes Thes 62. p. 238. that although we be justifyed by a thousand duties besides B. Yet faith may be called the only condition of the New Covenant i. e. of justification True if Mr. Baxter give the denomination but the question is not what things may be called but what they are A woe is pronounced to them that call or put light for darknesse and darknesse for light good for evill and evill for good c. I shall no further presse the unaptnesse of the phrase Mr. Bavter declaring in that which followeth his meaning to be that faith may be the only condition notwithstanding which he proves thus B. 1 Because it is the principall condition and the other but the lesse principall And as the whole countrey hath oft its name from the chief City so may the conditions of this Covenant from faith 2 Because all the rest are reducible to it either being presupposed as necessary antecedents as means or contained in it as its parts properties or modifications or else implyed as its immediate products or necescessary subservient means or consequents I speak first to the latter of these two arguments because he speaks first in the explication to the confirmation of it It is almost as wise an argumentation as I knew once used by some home-bred course-spun sons of a Country farmer who having heard that their father upon a day was sworn Constable at the Court made merry at home concluding from their fathers Constableship that they were all Constables and must rule the Parish because they were his sons and dwelt in house with him or as that of the Athenian boy that boasted himself to be the ruler of Athens thus proving it that he ruled his mother and his mother swayed his father and his father being Lord Maior that year swayed Athens Yea more of reason at least lesse of reasonlesnesse is there in both these arguings then in that of Mr. Baxter theirs concluded only the sons to to partake necessarily of their fathers office this man makes all that are in any respect of kindred yea of any relation to faith for such their relation to partake of the office of faith to justifie For so he reasoneth all the rest are reducible to faith as Antecedents going before it means to obtain it or parts or properties or necessary adjuncts and modifications or products effects or consequents What then Ergo these all in regard of their alliance or affinity to faith justifie and bear a part with faith in its office of justifying And yet when these justifie as much as faith we must understand that faith justifyeth alone Because what all these allies of faith do that faith it self may be said to do This is indeed Logick to prevail with his Kederminsterians or rather such of them as know no difference between Logick and Garlick It is as if I should dispute thus God made choyce of David before all and any other of the sons of Abraham to be King and to rule over Israel therefore all the progenitours of David as well Tamar and Ruth and Râ—hab as Judah Pharez and Booz yea more specially Jesse the father of David and all the brethren of David yea all the sons and generation of David to Joseph the Carpenter let me dilate my self more boldly all the tribe of Judah which were flesh of his flesh and bone of his bone nay all Israel which were allies to him and met with him in one common father Jacob these all partaked of Davids kingship and were partners with him in the office of ruling because they all were one way or other reducible to David as going hefore him or following him c. and yet when all these were Kings with David neverthelesse David was King alone Or thus The eye only of all the members of the body is appointed to the office of seeing neverthelesse the head that holds and gives influence to it the eye-lids that cover it the veins that convey nutriment to it the cheeks nose lips and teeth that are contiguous to it the hands and feet that are guided by it c. all these and many more do partake of the office of seeing together with the eye and when all these doe see as well as the eye yet the eye doth see alone because all the rest are reducible in some way of alliance to the eye If Mr. Baxters dispute be not one and the same with this in its grounds then is all my reason gone out of my head into my cap.
And at such arguing Agelastus that laught only once when he saw his horse eat Thistles would be tickled into a second laughter And no more weight is there in his former reason Because faith is the principall condition and the other lesse principall And as a whole County c. Here 1 I would demand in what respect according to Mr. Baxter Mr. Baxter can make faith the more principall and the rest qualifications and duties the lesse principall conditions Not in respect of their nature for if one be all are spirituall and Divine Nor in respect of priority in time for if not all yet many of the rest are of the same age and birth with faith Nor in respect of durance for many of them survive faith as justifying Nor in its instrumentality to justification for he denyeth any such thing to be in faith Nor in office for in it he confounds all together Nor in the amplitude of its object for herein love as in other things requires the preeminency Nor in order of operation for he makes many of them Antecedents to faith Nor in the perfection of its effect for he affirmes the rest to perfect what faith hath but begun In what respect then is faith the more principall Mr. Baxter shewes not because according to his principles it is beyond my principles to conceive that he can shew Yet he saith it because it serves his turn here to say it degrading faith at one place and enthroning it in another at his pleasure for his own ends 2 But if it be the principall condition c. what will follow hence for Mr. Baxters advantage This he makes to follow That as the whole Country hath oft its name from the chief city so may the rest duties from faith why doth he not speak plain it may be saith he but is it so where doth the Scripture give this name to faith it self much lesse to other duties in faith implyed Neither is the question about the name but the offices of all these It is rare that the Country takes its name from the chief City yet this is not in question but whether the whole Country partake of the priviledges and charter of the chief City This may indeed be where potentates that have the absolute Lordship of both grant to both the same priviledges Yet then the priviledges and dignities of the chief City are not its alone being common to the whole Country with it 3 But to the very thing in hand without painting and dawbing When the Lord hath rejected Mizpah Shiloh Dan Bethel and all other the Cities and Country of Israel saving Jerusalem alone there to vouchsafe his presence and to be sought unto it is then a rejection of God to set up Gods name and worship elsewhere saving at and equalize any other place with Jerusalem the Metropolis Hence is that complaint of God Israel hath forsaken Hos 8. 14. his maker and buildeth temples So when God hath consecrated faith alone and qualifyed it for the receiving of Christ to justification having rejected all our own righteousnesse and works from being priviledged together with it to this office and worke it is no lesse then a forsaking of God and of Christ to performe the most holy duties or to produce the most Celestiall qualifications in the least part to justifie us 4 All that Mr. Baxter dares to conclude hence is that works and duties may be not that they are conditions of justification But how from these reasons he will bring about that these all are the conditions or condition and yet faith the alone condition if he had so many eyes as Argus to guide him and so many hands as Briareus to work with by that guidance he shall be never able to effect Yet in the explication pa. 239. Mr. Baxter to charme his overly reader into a delusion pretends a proof of this Thesis by two similitudes which I forbear to transcribe because they are not worthy of so much labour For First Similies do illustrate not prove He should first have proved and then illustrated Secondly They are not adequate or fitted to the question speak only to a part of and not to the whole Thesis conclude at the best only that faith may in some case imply many other duties but in no wise that when faith is said to justifie other duties are implyed under the word faith as justifying together with it much lesse that all other duties justifie yet faith alone justifyeth If he would reason by them home to his position he must reason to this Tenour In the former suppose a King or State give to me by commission the government of such an eminent City or Castle but with this proviso and upon these articles that I disband the Army by which before I laid siege to it remove from me all my Regiments quit my self of all my Souldiers and so enter into the possession and government and all the honour and profits thereof by my self alone and one Counsellour to serve and assist me in the managing of the said government If now by vertue of this Commission I enter not having disbanded the said Army but carry it in with me some under a pretense of guarding my person others as my individuall adherents from whom I cannot be separated others to retain the Citizens within the bounds of due loyalty to me and the rest under a pretext of propagating the dominion of that power that hath so invested me with the government No man will doubt but I enter as a Traytor not as a loyall Trustee to the power which hath deputed me Who will not laugh at it as a sophisticall or rather ridiculous plea when he hears me maintaining that I entred with that one Counseller alone for all the rest are implyed in him some as his right some as his left hand some his parents some his children some his friends some his servants c. and so I have but him alone in having so many thousands with him So the new Covenant gives me Christ with justification and blessednesse in him with this Commission and proviso that I disband my own strength and righteousnesse the whole Army of my works by which before I laid siege to it to make all mine by my own winning and to enter into possession with faith alone apprehending all from the hand of free grace Shall I not be a Traytor if I carry the whole Army of works to take and hold possession for me though I make never so golden a pretext of faith only to which all these are reducible The same is the tenour of the redemption of the galley slave if you will not run from the Scripture in stead of following it in making comparisons But unto it I shall have a more proper place to speak afterward when we come to Mr. Baxters great adored Argument of receiving Christ as our Lord as well as Saviour or if there be not occasion offered there in the interim the
by the father of it with the name of justifying faith This definition he giveth Thes 70. pa. 279. I put this in the third place not because Mr. Baxter doth so for he hath many things between the former and this but because of its cognation if not identity with the former No doubt he saw the former argument more to shame then help his cause therefore in likelihood he brings it here again in another mode and forme if so paradventure it may relieve him Thus then runs his definition B. Faith in the largâ—st sense as it comprehendeth all the condition of the new Covenant may be thus defined It is when a sinner by the word and spirit of Christ being throughly convinced of the righteousnesse of the Law the truth of its threatning the evill of his own sin and the greatnesse of his misery hereupon and withall of the nature and offices sufficiency and excellency of Jesus Christ the satisfaction he hath made his willingnesse to save and his free offer to all that will accept him for their Lord and Saviour doth hereupon beleeve the truth of his Gospell and accept of Christ as his onely Lord and Saviour to bring them to God their chief good and to present them pardoned and just before him and to bestow upon them a more glorious inheritance and doe accordingly rest on him as their Saviour and sincerely though imperfectly obey him as their Lord forgiving others loving his people bearing what sufferings are imposed diligently using his means and ordinances and confessing and bewailing their sins against him and praying for pardon and all this sincerely and to the end Sponte Cretizantem quis neget esse Cretem Never more dubiousnesse in the most dubious Oracles of Apollo Delphicus then in this definition if indeed it be a definition because Mr. Baxter so calleth it He so speaks all that by all he might astonish some and deceive others yet if he be questioned his words bind him to nothing but that he may goe off and on at his pleasure The subtilissimus Doctor could not more warily have provided himself with evasions so sure that if all the world together should indeavour it none can catch him 1 If we demand of him whether he speak of faith quae Justificat qua Justificat which Justifyeth and as it Justifyeth he leaves us here at a losse and will noâ— tell us 2 In saying Faith as it comprehendeth all the condition c. and by all the condition understanding all the duties which the Law requireth if he be demaunded whether there be a faith which comprehendeth all these or if so whether as parts of it self or things reducible to it or if the latter why are all these or how more comprehended in faith then faith and all other of the rest in his sensu composito comprehended in any one of the rest or if in the former sense whether it be a faith of Gods making or of Mr. Baxters making made in the defining and defined in the making To no one of these our doubts that he leaves upon us by his ambiguity of speaking hath he one word to resolve us so that where to finde an answer to him he leaves us uncertain 3 If we should aske him where he saith in the beginning of of the definition It is when a sinner c. whether he means that the quando is the genus of faith or whether it be a regular definition of an act or habit to posit when it is and not what it is and if so why doth he not define it by a certain rather then by an indefinite time by Anno Mundi or Anno Domini or Imperii or Regni c. that from the Chronicle we may seek and finde it Or if by his quando we can find out the time how shall we find and know the thing Be it that we can hit the time when all that followeth is done and so upon Mr. Baxters authority conclude that then faith is yet do we not remain so uncertain as at first what it is that we may make use of it to justification he speaks nothing to certifie us that from what he saith we might take the occasion to consent with him or dissent from him 4 If we would know from him of all those things at whose being positure and acting he tels us faith is whether they include faith constitutively or else but declaratively whether faith consists of these as the whole of its parts or the genus of its species or the compound of its simples or else whether all these do but declare and evidence the truth of faith in a man If declaratively alone how then do those things which only declare faith any more then declare and evidence Justification by faith and how then holds his conclusion hence that we are justifyed before God by these because so justifyed by faith Or if constitutively as many severall parts and ingredients they make up as it were the body of faith how then doth the holy Ghost oppose faith and works even to the excluding either of other about the point of justifying as in other Scriptures so in that before mentioned Text Eph. 2. 8 9 10. Is there a conflict of flesh and spirit Jacob and Esau Christ and Eaxter in one and the same body and bowels of faith either to destroy the other as to Justification or if faith be made up of works and the holy Ghost doth so frequently in Scripture reject yea accurse works from the justification of the new Covenant how is not faith it self which is nothing else but a body and bundle of works accursed from justification also In none of these ambiguities that he hath left in his Thesis doth he speak one word to saâ—isfie us Lastly where he saith that faith is when all these duties are done sincerely to the end if we demand him whether he mean thaâ— when there is an end of doing them or of the man that doth them that then faith hath its being and not till then and so all other duties act in justifying while we live and faith after all when we are dead or whether he means that as long as these duties are done faith is but when they arâ— not done or when they cease to act faith is not but loseth its being Fuit Ilium ingens gloria Teuerorum I had once a faith and a ravishing joy in beleeving either while I was under sufferings for Christs sake but now my sufferings are ended and I am no more persecuted my faith is expired or while I waited on all the ordinances of Christ but now my sick bed or prison or banishment intercepts me from many of Christs ordinances My faith is lost which of these wayes or in what third sense he will be understood let him that can conjecture but in respect of any thing that we have under his hand in the Thesis he is yet free to choose his meaning so that in all that he
saith here he hath armed himself against all exceptions by saying it so that we shall not know his meaning Only thus far we may speak with Augustine Si non vis intelligidebes negligi What is not an understandable Argument we shall contemn as no Argument But his illustration and proof may possibly follow in his Explication Thither also we will follow him to examine which one of all these things delivered here so ambiguously he doth there plainly illustrate or prove it runneâ— thus pa. 281. B. This is the condition of the New Covenant at large That all this is sometime called faith as taking its name from the primary principall vitall part is plain hence Of the condition enough hath been said before we look for proof That all this is sometime called I mean in Gods not Mr. Baxters Scriptures faith we also will say it is plain if he make it plain by his Hence viz. B. 1. In that faith is oft called obeying of the Gospell but the Gospell commands all this Rom. 10. 16. 1 Pet 1. 22. 4. 17. 2 Thess 1. 8. Gal. 3. 1. 5. 7. Heb. 5. 9. 1 In all these Scriptures obeying of the Gospell is one and the same thing which in other Scriptures is called the obedience of faith i. e. obedience to that Gospell doctrine which requireth to rest upon Christ alone by faith for righteousnesse and life without any intermixture to attain the same called obedience to the Gospell to distinguish between the Gospell and Legall way of justification This Mr. Baxter knoweth well therefore he gives us the quotation without the words of these Texts most of them being such as if there were nothing else said in the whole Word even these are enough to subvert as pernicious his assertion 2 The thing in question is not whether the Gospell command these duties but whether it commands us to do them that we may be justifyed by such deeds and whether because the Gospell commands them it doth therefore call them faith or that all which is to be done in obedience to the Gospell is straightway to take up either the Nature or Name of faith 3 How doth he contradict himself here in what he had said before Thesis 31. pa. 154. where he affirmed the Commandements of the Gospell in relation to these duties to be the establishment of the Morall Law and the perfect obedience in the Law commanded and that this is but an adjunct of the new Covenant or Gospell and not a proper part thereof Will he say then that all the works which the Morall Law commandeth are faith or by the Gospell Metamorphosed from works into faith B. The fufilling of the conditions of the new Covenant is oft called faith c. But these forementioned are parts of the condition of the new Covevenant Ergo they are implyed and included in faith Gal. 3. 12 23 25. A wretched Argument lame in every foot in which one principle is begged to maintain another Neither of the premises nor yet the conclusion having any soundnesse either as they are considered a part or all together Or if he could have proved either proposition from Scripture would he have suffered them to passe under his bare affirmation alone The Scripture annexed prove only an opposition between faith and works the Gospell and the Law but are as far as heaven from earth from proving either of the premises Neither doth the conclusion infer what it should from the premises i. e. what is contained in them I should in particulars shew the deformed nakednesse of the Syllogism if it did not enough shew it self without my help How rotten must the cause needs be which puts so profound a man to such miserable shifts and absurd arguings to defend it where there is no opposer What followes in the same Sâ—ction is all one as if he had said not so but so c. because I have over and over told you so and what I have told you must needs be true The other things in the explication are not to this question Lest any should except that I wrong Mr. Baxter in calling these two latter his second and third Arguments to prove justification by works when he doth not so call them though he doth so use them I have prosecuted the matter of them wholly as considered in it self without any further reference to the conclusion then as himself in expresse words applies them to it CHAP. V. The fourth and great Argument of Mr. Baxter examined and the inference that because Christ as Lord as well as Saviour is the object of justifying faith as justifying therefore we are justifyed by works as well as by faith is confuted And withall proved that Christ as our Lord dying for us and not as Lord and a Lawgiver is the object of faith as justifying Mr. Baxters Reasons to prove the contrary answered HIS fourth Argument is drawn from the Object of Faith and the due qualification of the same Object It runnes thus as by his disputes compacted and compared together appeareth B. If Christ be the object of justifying faith as such not only in his Priestly office as our Redeemer and Saviour but also in his Kingly office our Lord and Ruler then other works and duties of obedience are as much required as faith in justifying us before God But Christ is the object of justifying faith as such not only in his Priestly but also in his Kingly office as our Lord as well as our Redeemer and Saviour Ergo other works and duties of obedience have so much to do injustifying as faith He saith affiance which whether iâ— at all differs from faith and whether he means not the same with faith we shall see afterward if it be necessary The Assumption he layes down and goes about to prove Thes 66. and in its explication beginning pa. 255. The consequent of the proposition he hath and endeavours to confirme in and under Thes 72 73. This one of all his Arguments hath the Dominicall letter on it it is the wood the rest are but the hay and stabble of his building his sacra anchora if this hold not the man with his vessell and all the trash-treasure therein must perish upon the Rocks All the rest of his Arguments are but bubbles in comparison of this bottle-glasse Therefore he attributes much to this gloryeth in it and only doth not fall down and worship it It was hinted before here and there in all his discourse but here he manageth it with all his strength and art I shall speak first to the Assumption because he first puts and endeavours to prove it And here now appears what his end was in laying a third opinion of the righteousnesse of Christ to justification besides the active and passive righteousness viz. a righteousnesse meritorious for us and not imputed to us after he had been 10. years for the passive righteousnesse only as he notifies to us pa. 54 55. The ground it seems of
altering his judgment is because that opinion would not subserve to his justification by works which he hath so pertinaciously determined to set up that whatsoever of sacred or humane Authority he meets with opposit to it he shoulders it out of the way and whatsoever occurres out of any sink and puddle making for it he takes up as a treasure But the Meritoriousnesse of Christs Legislative and Kingly office to satisfie for our sins being laid as a groundwork he thought it seems would tend much to the exalting of the works done by the Commandement of King Jesus to justification therefore he took it up from Grotius and made use of it as a paved way to Justification by works which here almost from the same grounds he urgeth And so we see that from the very beginning to the end of this Tractate all that he hath conspireth and aspireth to this end justification by works and to elude all that the Gospell hath against it But let us come to examine his Assumption to this Argument and what he brings for it B. Thes 66. Christ is not in any one part or work of his office alone the object of justifying faith as such but Christ in his entire office considered is this object viz. as he is Redeemer Lord and Saviour In a good sense we might grant him both all this and all the substance of all the Arguments which he brings to prove it For none of the Protestant Churches have denyed but maintain 1 That all the offices of Christ are needfull and cooperating to and in the worke of Mediatourship that Christ not only as our high Priest but also as our King and Prophet made satisfaction for us and makes his satisfaction effectuall to us 2 That the object of justifying faith is Christ in all his offices King Priest and Prophet 3. That these offices of Christ are not to be severed by us because counited and coworking in him He layes not down nor puts from him any one of his offices when he either justifyeth sanctifieth or illuminateth c. but doth all and every of them as Lord Saviour and Teacher Yet when all this is granted to him his cause is never the stronger nor ours at all the weaker Nay he declares himself guilty of the fault wherewith he chargeth the innocent viz. of separating Christs offices holding him forth to us as redeeming us only as our high Priest governing and giving Lawes to his Church only by his Kingly office enlightening us in the truth only as our Prophet when contrariwise we teach that Jesus Christ i. e. the Anointed of God in all his offices and anointings is made unto us of God wisdome righteousnesse sanctification and redemption not wisdome in one only of his offices righteousnesse in another c. but all in all as the Scripture witnesseth 1 Cor. 1. 30. Neverthelesse we deny not but some acts and benefits of Christ are to be attributed more properly and peculiarly to one then another office of Christ yet so that the cooperation of the other offices therein is nor wholly to be denyed But this we deny that there is any other fountain opened for the washing away of our sins but the bloud of Christ only or any other satisfaction made to the justice of God but by the sacrifice of Christ alone yet so as this bloud and sacrifice as they are primarily our high Priests so are they our Kings and Prophets also howbeit the bloud and sacrifice of one Christ alone And herein we follow the Scriptures leading threed which affirm not only the Priest to have dyed for us but our Prophet or Shepheard also I am the good Shepheard and give and lay down my life for the sheep Joh. 10 11 15. He came not to be ministred unto but to minister and to give his life a ransome for many Mat. 20. 28. viz. to seal the doctrine with his bloud which he had taught with his lips and to make the way through the veil of his flesh thorough his bloud which he had taught to be the only way into the Holiest to the Father And as the Shepheard so the Lord and King also It was the LORD that was betrayeâ— 1 Cor. 11. 23. crucifyed 1 Cor. 2. 8 killed Act. 3. 15. and raisâ—â— again 1 Cor. 6. 14. Even the Lord of glory and Prince of life Therâ—fore it is that the holy Ghost cals it the Lords death 1 Cor. 11. 2â— The Lords body and the Lords bloud 1 Cor. 11. 27 29. And needfull was it that Christ as Lord and King with all his power should thus grapple with sin death and hell on our behalfe how else should he have vanquished them and having spoyled these Principalities and powers made a shew of them openly and triumphed over them Col. 2. 15. And without this victory his death had been to us vain our enemies had remained unconquered and our selves unransomed The strong man had not been driven out by a stronger then he Luk. 11. 21 22. Thus we neither divide nor separate the offices of Christ one from another but conjoyn them all in the death and passion of Christ by which alone we beleeve and teach that the Lord Priest and Prophet Christ Jesus hath made satisfaction for our sins But we utterly deny that which Mr. Baxter drives at that Christ as our Lord that is as a Lawgiver and to speak in Mr. Baxters words Thes 31. as he doth establish the morall Law commanding perfect obedience and forbidding every sin as exactly as under the Covenant of works is the object of justifying faith as justifying This was that great and principall article which Luther with so much vehemency defended against the Papists viz. that Christ is Luth. in Gal. Cap. 2. 20 alibi no Moses no Exactor no giver of Lawes in reference to justification but a giver of grace a Saviour c. pronouncing it an accursed â—and hellish doctrine which the Papists taught that he justifyeth as a Law-giver that they which so paint him out make him not a Christ but a Fiend or Devill The state of the question then is betwixt him and us not whether Christ as Lord as well as Saviour but whether by the sacrifice of himself for us or else by giving Laws and Commanding all duties of obedience to us also be the object of justifying faith as justifying i. e. whether our faith by obeying Christ in the works of righteousnesse as well as by cleaving to Christ crucifyed do justifie We maintain that the death of Christ or Christ dying for us is alone offered to our faith for justification he contrariwise that Christ as commanding the duties of obedience is the object of faith as justifying Our Assertion that Christ suffering for us is the alone object of justifying faith as such may be confirmed by many Arguments One Argument may be drawn from the offerings and sacrifices of the old Testament and the sacraments both of the old and new Testament
life of Christ sacrificed for us to be the Ransom Mat. 20. 28. 1 Tim. 2. 6. The Price by which we are purchased and redeemed from thraldome 1 Cor. 6. 20. 7. 23. The propitiation for our sins through faith in his bloud Rom. 3. 25. 1 Joh. 4. 10. i. e. that one and only act of Christ by which our sinnes are expiated the justice of God satisfyed and his wrath appeased so that we finde him now a God propitious and gratious to us But if we will hear the Scriptures speaking at large and articulately confirming this position that the satisfaction made by Christ is begun continued and perfected meerly and wholly in and by Christs sufferings in steed of many Testimonies which the Scripture affordeth I shall pitch upon two disputes only of the Apostle in the Epistle to the Hebrews The former in cap 9. beginning at the 11 and 12 verses That Christ being become an high Priest c. by his own bloud entred once into the Holy place having obtained for us eternall Redemption I need not explain the words for the edification of any that hath but read the Scriptures and taken but overly into his consideration how that which was yearly under the Law figured in the act of the high Priest the type was at length effectually accomplished by Christ the Antitype Again ver 13 14. If the bloud of Buls c. sanctifyed to the purifying of the Flesh how much more shall the bloud of Christ which by the eternall Spirit offered himselfe to God without spot purge your conscience from dead works c. An undeniable vertue and efficacy in the bloud of Christ alone without any further acts of Christ himself to purge the conscience e. i. to absolve and justifie is here affirmed And further ver 15. He is the Mâ—diatour of the new Covenant that by means of death for the redemption of the transgressions under the first Testament they which are called may receive the promise of the eternall inheritance i. e. the eternall inheritance promised by means of Christs death and not by his Legislative righteousnesse And ver 26 Christ now once at the end of the world hath appeared to put away sin by the sacrifice of himself What sin All sin according to that of John The bloud of Christ purgeth from all sin 1 Joh. 1. 7. And if from all sin what sin is there left for Christs giving of Lawes to put away or what of justification left out for it to perfect or of full satisfaction not made for it to compleat Lastly ver 28. Christ was once offered to bear the sins of many How did he bear them but as the Apostle saith He hath redeemed us from the curse of the Law being made a curse for us Gal. 3. 13. and in bearing them on our behalfe he satisfyed justice on our behalf And this is affirmed to be by offering himself for us not by giving Laws to us or injoyning duties upon us His second dispute is chap. 10. where the Apostle having mentioned the feeblenesse of the sacrifices offered by the Law to take away sin brings in Christ offering himself to accomplish what these could not and declaring his ready obedience to fulfill that will of God written in the volume of Gods book to offer himself a sacrifice for sin with a Lo I come by this will of God saith he we are sanctifyed by the offering of the body of Jesus Christ once for all ver 5 10. He saith not we have our consecration to be holy by the commands of Christ c. but by the offering of his body And that by sanctification is to be here understood purification and justification I think it will not be denyed However ver 12. it is added that he having once offered sacrifice for sins for ever sat down at the right hand of God his sitting down and resting argues his work the work of our redemption and justification perfected in every degree and number His rest is as Gods rest was from the beginning then the work of Creation now of Redemption being made absolutely perfect the rest followed and where had this work its beginning progresse and perfection In his once offering of sacrifice for sins for ever Nothing here of Christs Law-giving and rule from the bottom to the top of the work of Redemption or Justification The sacrifice alone satisfyed so far all things of man are here excluded as that nothing else of Christ is required As it is more fully yet expressed ver 14. For by one offering he hath perfected for ever them that are sanctifyed His perfecting Mr. Baxter will not deny to be his making of perfect satisfaction for them and this is done by one offering of Christ Will Mr. Baxter be so audacious as to oppose the holy Ghost with his Nay telling that there must be somewhat else besides this offering viz. Christs Law-giving as part of the satisfaction made for us Lastly to put all out of doubt and besides the bounds of cavilling what the Apostle should mean here by sanctifying and perfecting this also is unfolded in plain words ver 17 18. viz. The taking away of their sinnes and iniquities And where the remission of these is there is no more offering c. satisfaction is made to the full and no need of any addition for the perfecting thereof I acknowledg there are many things required to condition Christ that he might be an effectuall offerer and offering else could not the redemption and justification which are by him have been completed or the satisfaction made for us been perfect Yea that after the work of satisfaction as formerly of Creation finished and a totall resting from any further addition to it yet the Father worketh and the Son worketh hitherto in the businesse of governing and preserving of what is so created and repayred yet this doth not at all hinder but that full satisfaction is made by the alone offering of Christ And here once more I call upon Mr. Baxter and all his adherents to bring forth any one testimony of Scripture to prove that either Christs Law-giving or any other act of Christ besides this one of offering himself a sacrifice for sin is by the Scripture in whole or in part affirmed satisfactory to God for our justification Let them not as Mr. Baxter before doth from pa. 54. to pa. 61. bring their peradventures and may bees and possibles and verisimilies for are the conjectures and results of a working and self-conceited brain to be laid as a foundation whereon to build an Article of our faith But let them bring the oracle of the Word testifying either that Christ hath done or God hath required of him or accepted from him such and such works in part of satisfaction Else our ears will be deaf to hear mans prattle being attentive in such matters only to the voice of the holy Ghost This shall suffice for the opening and confirming of ouâ— Tenet untill it shall
is more adoe then come in and sit down and take what we have a minde to God hath put all his Sons offices into the condition to be received and submitted to Either all or none must be accepted And if all be in the condition then the receiving of all must needs justifie upon the grounds that I have laid down before It is not a new thing to see heresie usurping the chaire to condemne truth of errour The reasoning here is wholly carnall and naturall besides the rule of the Gospell When he calls faith a naturall way of receiving the mercy offered by Christ and our own worth and works implyedly the spirituall way how doth he put light for darknesse and darknesse for light giving to the truely spirituall cause of renewing that of the Apostle 1 Cor. 2. 14. The naturall man receiveth not the things of the Spirit of God c. Can Heaven and Hell be more opposite either to other then the Apostles doctrine to Mr. Baxters The Apostle cals the way of faith alone the Spirit and the way of works superadded to faith for justification the flesh Gal. 3. 3. Is it Flesh or Spirit in Mr. Baxter that makes him a contradictor of the holy Ghost speaking by the Apostle The way of faith is the way of grace supernaturall Flesh and bloud cannot reveal it unto us but our Father which is in heaven But the way of works is beneath grace dictated by nature it self therefore naturall but so that all the force of nature cannot effectuallize it to justification It is a slander that he puts upon the Orthodox whom he hateth therefore represents them as Noddies and Simpletons pretending that they teach faith to be nothing but an accepting of pardon and accepting of holinesse c. Nay we make neither pardon nor holinesse nor the c. but Christ Jesus the object of our faith adhere and cleave to him for all yet not confounding his benefits or the means by which he applyeth them but wait by faith at the severall sluces by which he conferreth his severall benefits to receive the washing away of our guilt by the effusion of his bloud and holinesse or sanctification by the effusion of his Spirit and not contrariwise holinesse by his bloud and pardon by the effusion of his Spirit So we repair by faith to Christ for all because in him as in the spring is all yet so as that in coming to him alone that hath all we come to the Sun of righteousnesse for light to the fountain for life and to the Spirit of sanctification which flowes from him for holynesse He cryes against separation and makes it as I have shewed for union and makes confusions Where doth he mention any office or operation of faith to sanctification or use of sanctification but to justification or what is faith with him but a compound of all endowments works and duties And thus he confounds faith and works Christs righteousnesse and mans righteousnesse morall honesty and Gospell sanctification of all together making up one linsy-woolsy justification or righteousness to justification which the Spirit of God never revealed but the spirit of Mr. Baxter hath hatched What he speaketh of Christ stablishing his office either is above my understanding or else is not at all to his purpose And what of accepting as under the notion of accepting or as under the notion of a condition hath been enough spoken to in what was before said about the instrumentality of faith All that followeth is wholly averse from and adverse to the doctrine of the Gospell Jewish and Popish For what meanes he by our title in Law and the wedding garment but the whole furniture of works and duties done in obedience to a supposed legislative authority of Christ Without these and before these to take possession i. e. to dare to adhere to Christ for justification is usurpation and an incurring of Gods vengeance for usurping Thus beating off from Christ sinners chief sinners for whom Christ hath dyed How doth the spirit of the rejected Jewes work upon this man when they heard of righteousnesse and Act. 22. 21 22 23. salvation offered to the Gentiles a common and profane people that were not holy how did they stretch their throats and rend their clothes in a zeal against this indignity So this man hearing of the justificition of Publicans and sinners hath his eye evill because God is good tears himself with anger crying usurpation vengeance hell-fire why because they had not put on the filthy rags of mans righteousnesse which he cals the wedding garment and thereby gotten title to Christ before they were so bold as to beleeve in him and girded on their own gaol-clothes first and then have put on Christ upon them that their own righteousnesse might have been neerest the heart and Christs righteousnesse at a further distance as having no efficacy but from our own righteousnesse effectuallizing it Unto all this I shall use only that oracle of the Lord Christ The Publicans and harlots enter into the Kingdome of God before these Pharisaicall justiciaries and whited sepulchers Let Christ alone be my wedding garment I leave all that unrighteous righteousnesse which Mr. Baxter would wrest out from the Kingly office entire to Mr. Baxter to compleat his righteousnesse to justification I know no other title to the justification of the new Covenant which the chief sinners must look after before they possesse it but the grant of grace in the new Covenant and their closure by faith with Christ in whom God presents himself to justifie and reconcile them to himself One voice of my Bride-groom crying Whosoever thirsteth i. e. is dry and empty of all good in himself let him come to me and whosoever will let him drink of the well of the water of life freely Rev. 22. 17. is of more force with me then ten thousand contradicting voices such as this of Mr. Baxter There is more adoe then come in and sit down and take what we have a mind to If this man had the imaginary place of Peter to be Porter of heaven how quickly would he forfeit his place by repelling those whom alone Christ will have admitted and admitting those that Christ will have repelled Christ admits beleevers not doers this man rejects all beleevers that are not doers before they are beleevers The rest that he saith here is sacrificed to his Goddesse the Lady Condition A deity that the Scriptures never knew nor yet all the whole University of Athens They erected an Altar indeed to the unknown God Act. 17. 23. see the depth of Mr. Baxter he hath found the Antipodas which the old Mathematicians wrote of but could never find the deity which the learned Athenians worshiped but worshiped they knew not what This Goddesse Condition by some help of the Socinians and Arminians hath M. Baxter brought to light and invested her with more glittering ornaments then they had wit to do only he hath not yet
in his other forementioned operations upon us by his Word and Spirit not only to teach and command but also by his infinite power to enliven us to bring forth fruits of so great a salvation and to walke worthy of it in all holinesse and righteousnesse and exactnesse to fulfill all duties and works of Christian obedience In this he is to be made indeed the object of justifying faith or which is the same of sanctifying faith yet not at it justifyeth but as it sanctifyeth We should not a little maim both the office of faith and the benefits which we have by Christ if we should restrain them all to justification Nay Christ is made unto us as well sanctification as righteousnesse and faith adhereth as fast to Christ for the one as the other else is it not a legitimate but bastard faith Neverthelesse Christ is not in the same respect the object of faith as sanctifying and of the same as justifying Because this is Mr. Baxters supereminent Argument in which himself seems most to trust and by which so many learned Ministers do even professe themselves staggered and astonished I shall omit nothing unexamined that he speaketh in the affirming or confirming of it lest any should take occasion to say that the strongest part thereof is not because it could not be answered Therefore have I left out nothing of what he hath said to the other Proposition though many things were unworthy of Animadversion To the consequent of this Proposition he speaketh more in his next two Theses viz. 73. 74. what is inserted in these two Aphorisms more fit to be examined under another notion I shall here forbear to transcribe leaving it for its proper place What is to the present purpose he thus expresseth B. Thes 73. pa. 289. Faith only doth not justifie in opposition to the works of the Gospell but those works do also justifie Thes 74. Both faith and works justifie in the same kind of causality viz. as Causae sine quibus non or mediate and improper causes or as Dr. Twisse causae dispositivae c. The like may be said of Love and of others in the same station These are but meer affirmations and contain no reasons to confirme only in the latter Thesis seemingly at least is produced the authority of that Antinomian Dr. Twisse but with so fine a conveyance as that he may be kept in or left out at pleasure if Mr. Baxter be dealt with to make good his allegation of him He knowes the name and authority of Dr. Twisse to be great and amiable as an eminent servant of Christ and patron of his truth He concludes therefore that his assertions will be swallowed with the more facility having such an authority to sweeten and fortifie them Therefore so interserteth his Testimony that his Reader may suppose Dr. Twisse to affirm works to be causas dispositivas of justification I neither have read all that Dr. Twisse hath written neither do I so far trust my memory as to deny it flatly and peremptorily Yet by knowing Dr. Twisse aright I am as confident that Bellarmine hath taught the righteousnesse of justification to be meerly by imputation and our justification only by faith as that Dr. Twisse hath any way affirmed works in this or any other respect to prevent or operate to our justification If he did why doth not Mr. Baxter quote the place as elsewhere he doth very diligently when the Testimony of the Author makes for him or why in the end of his Appendix where he sucks out of Dr. Twisse and others all that he thinks may make for his advantage doth he not cite this so pregnant a Testimony But he hath left to himself an evasion that when he hath beguiled whom he can with such an authority being found at last he can answer his meaning is the term or phrase viz. causa dispositiva upon some other not to this Argument is that which Dr. Twisse useth I finde him indeed calling works causas sine quibus non or dispositivas salutis of our salvation or glorification never of our justification And so far is he from attributing under this term what Mr. Baxter attributeth that he seriously abandoneth it So he expresseth himself Vind. Lib. 1. Par. 2. Sect. 2. Proxime finem Vix majus pâ—ceatum est quam justificationem quaerere ex operibus and almost in the next words Nullum opus Deo gratiuâ— acceptius est quam sibi justitiae suae in negotiosalutis renunt iare et in Christo unice confidere But come we now to that which he speaks for confirmation the first part consists in prefacing His own conscience telling him that it is a Pharisaicall Popish principle which he hear positeth he forelayes his Proeme to the proofe thereof thus B. I know this is the doctrine that will have the loudest out-cries raised against it and will make some cry out Heresie Popery Socinianism and what not For mine own part the searcher of hearts knoweth that not singularity affection of novelty nor any goodwill to Popery provoketh me to entertain it but that I have earnestly sought the Lords direction upon my knees before I durst adventure on it and that I resisted the light of this conclusion as long as I was able but a man cannot force his own understanding if the evidence of truth force it not though he may force his pen or tongue to silence or dissembling That which I shall do further is to give you some proofs c. First here a word to such Ministers as being more the disciples of men then of Christ and better versed in Sophistry then Divinity do only not deify Mr. Baxter maintaining all his doctrine in this book to be the doctrine of all the Protestant Churches Why do they anger the man in charging him with so low a spirit that he hath nothing but what is common with him and the most eminent lights in the Church will not he be offended at it doth he not here in some kind pronounce himself a dissenter and that what he here asserteth is that which the Protestant Churches detest as heresie doth not himself even before experience what acceptance his book would have as it were proclaime himself in this point departed from us into the Tents of Papists and Socinians As to Mr. Baxter 1. We have before granted to him that he gives no cause of suspicion that affection of singularity and novelty hath drawn him into this opinion For he is not herein singular nor is his doctrine new but such as the Phariâ—ees in Christs time and the false Apostles in the Apostles times and the worst of Hereticks from thence unto our dayes have unanimously pestered the Church with Yet in this I appeal to Mr. Baxter whether some affection of repute by being a deviser of a new way and new Arguments for the confirmation of this old Popish Socinian doctrine hath not possessed him 2. Whether the searcher of
all hearts witnesse for him that no good will to Popery in generall provoked him to trouble the Church with his doctrine I will not judge But if good will to this part of Popery that consists in justification by works unto which if all the rest garbage of Popery be compared it is insufficient to counterpoise it in mischief did not provoke let him shew what hath provoked him to it Is it in hatred to the Papists that he hath laboured so stoutly to maintain their Kingdome Is not this the pillar of all Popery and if this be demolished what is there of all their heresies but will fall after 3. As to his sincerity in this businesse in following conscientiously his judgment I know I finde in my self the heart is deceitfull above all things and desperately evill who can finde it out I search only my own not anothers heart that is out of my orb and beyond my fathom But I should give the more credence to Mr. Baxter speaking of his own sincerity in this businesse did I not see him forsaking the fountain and digging to himself cisterns deriving from every puddle of Papists Arminians Socinians and Atheists both his tenents and all fallacious Sophistry to maintain them leaving the pure word of God and tossing it either from him or for himself at his pleasure 4. As for his prayer if presented to God after his own principles as an Act helping to justifie him and no further through the mediation of Christ then as the same mediation take efficacy as to him from his own works and worth no marvell if the justice of God flung it back as dirt in his face and left him to that de luding spirit which worketh by those false Apostles whom he had studied so many years having spent but a few days upon the Scriptures as himself confesseth So the Pharisee after his praying departed from the presence of God unjustifyed unregarded Such devout Protestations may possibly take impression upon the weak and ignorant But Satan in the vizzard of an Angell of light and Satan in his own ghastly visage is to them that are strong in the faith the same Satan and alike shunned Besides when men rest not satisfyed with the sacred truth of the Word but will as it were rake the very dung of Gods enemies for quaintifies of knowledge which the Word hath not if they are blacked no marvell for their delight is to dwell with Colliers And God hath threatned to send them strong delusions that they should beleeve a lie c. 2 Thes 2. 10 11 12. Yeelding them up to waxe worse deceiving others being themselves deceived or self-deceivers 2 Tim. 3. 13. He promiseth some proofs of what he saith and one argument he puts in this explication thus B. If faith justifie as it is the fulfilling of the condition of the new Covenant and obedience be also part of the condition then obedience must justifie in the same way as faith But both parts of the Antecedent are before proved An Herculean Argument as soon may a man wrest the Club out of Hercules his hand as make void the conclusion which is inserred by this Argument If my eye discerneth colours upon condition it look diligently upon them and my hand doth inrich me upon condition that it stretcheth forth it self to receive a Princes beneficence and my heel be put into the same condition with my eye and my hand then my heel doth discerne colours in the same way with my eye and enrich me in the same way with my hand But both parts of the Antecedent are as firmly proved before as the both parts of Mr. Baxters antecedent Ergo the conclusion is as very a blank as Mr. Baxters If Mr. Baxters oft saying of the same thing doth prove the thing to be true then this cannot be denyed to be a truth For who can number the times that he hath kissed and spit in the mouth of this Ashteroth Condition setting it up cheek-mate with Christ himself in justifying us For Thes 56. he yoaks together Christ and faith in the same way of causality to justification and here and every where faith and obedience or works so that Christ faith and works are collaterals in justifying how as they meet together in this one Great Colossus condition or causa sine qua non Christ is the condition even in his satisfaction and faith is the condition and works is the condition so that Condition it seems by him justifyeth more then works or faith or Christ for neither works alone nor faith alone nor Christ alone doth justifie But this mouth-almighty Condition when like Bel and the Dragon she hath eaten up and swallowed into her bowels Christ faith and works doth of and by her self alone justifie such a Justifyer and such a Justification I should speak more seriously if Mr. Baxter had ministred to me more serious matter whereof to treat Chaffe is wont to be exposed to the winde when the Wheat as more substantiall is allotted to a more substantiall handling The rest of his Arguments which he brings in other Theses I shall examine by themselves CHAP. VI. The fift Argument answered and the dispute of St. James Cap. 2. opened and the Reasons drawn thence to prove justification by works refuted THe former was Mr. Baxters great Argument the fift in number is like to it yet not so much hugged and honoured by him as the former because that was his own born of his own brain This he takes up as fully formed by the Papists to his hand and use so that he is not to have the entire honour of it but every petty Monk and Sacrificer will challenge his part therein This is indeed their great and sole Argument against the Protestants The rest they bring is unworthy the hearing This therefore Mr. Baxter here that the Popish cause may stand and ours fall Atlas-like puts his shoulder and whole strength under to support B. Thes 75. pa. 292. The plain expression of St. James should terrifie us from an interpretation contradictory to the Text and except apparent violence be used with his Chap. 2. 21 24 25. c. it cannot be doubted but that a man is justifyed by works and not by faith only Eusebius Hierom. I mean not here to seek an evasion by pleading that this Epistle in the primitive times of the Church before the controversie about justification by faith or by works and faith was in agitation was questioned by some and denyed by others to be of divine authority Or that * Erasmus Luther Musculus Cajetan a Cardinall of the Romish some great Divines of these latter times have not received it into the Canon or that among those that embrace it as Canonicall it is much disputed what James is the Authour of it For besides the Syriac interpreter that weakly attributes it to James the brother of John who in the cradle of the Church was slain with the sword by Herod Act. 12.
1 c. some name James the son of Alpheus the Brother of Christ and one of the 12 Apostles others James sirnamed Oblias or the Just of whom Jâ—sephus writeth the Author of it adhuc sub judice lis est Or that the matter method and if I may so speak spirit of this Epistle sounds not in one harmony with the rest parts or books of the new Testament but rather after the writings of the books under the old Covenant or after such as stuck still to the old Covenant as Philo Judaeus and others all which Mr. Baxter better knows to have been by many objected then I know how satisfactorily to answer it By these and other reasons some have expunged it from the Catalogue of Scriptures which are of divine inspiration and have reduced it into the kind and number of writings that are usually termed Ecclesiasticall in a good sense not disagreeing any where from the Canon yet not of that dignity as to be accepted as a part of the Canon it self I shall leave these things to be disputed by others and examine the testimonies which Mr. Baxter hence alleageth what and how far it makes for him as the authority of the holy Ghost himselfe Here it is remarkable that Mr. Baxter who followes the Jesuits every foot and inch in the interpreting of this and all other Scriptures from which he would with them set up justification by works like a man made all of zeal perks up to terrifie us from an interpretation contradictory to the text and from using apparent violence to it implying that all the Protestant Churches and Saints which have stood in the defence of the faith of Christ against the Papists now almost 200. years have dealt thus sacrilegiously in robbing this Text of its due sense And the Fryers and Jesuites alone good men have stood up as the fast friends of Christ to maintain this truth of Christ and the spirit and meaning of this Scripture against the violation of the sacrilegious hands of these hereticall Protestants And that himself is now at last stirred up by the Spirit that hath wrought so powerfully upon the Jesuits to vindicate and set forth the true meaning of this Text with the same fidelity and sincerity which they his Masters have used before him Therefore to excite all men to gaze on his ingenuity and sincerity and to admire him as the one alone man among Protestants raised up to undeceive all the Churches that have so long strayed from the holy mother Church he thus like wisedome it self uttereth his voice B. Pag. 297. I dare not teach the holy Ghost to speak nor force the Scripture nor raise an exposition so far from the plain importance of the words without apparent necessity but here is not the least necessity there being not the least inconvenience that I know of in affirming justification by works in the fore explained sense i. e. in the sense which Mr. Baxters sense and reason without any help of Scripture hath devised Men seldome are bold with Scripture in forcing it but they are first bold with conscience in forcing it as one M. Baxter who with onespell hath forced all the large and divine disputes of Paul about justification into a cherristone and hurld it at the feet of his St. Sense there to do homage or to be trampled into the dirt After this his protestation of his integrity zeal and tendernesse of conscience in interpreting Scriptures and the impression which he feels or feigns in his soul which the heretick Protestants have made by not expounding this Scripture in the same words which the Jesuits do Let us see with what tendernesse and fear himself in the next words speaketh of it B If it were but some one phrase dissonant from the ordinary language of Scripture I should not doubt but it must be reduced to the rest But when it is the very scope of a Chapter in plain and frequent expressions no whit dissonant from any other Scripture I think he that may so wrest it as to make it unsay what it saith may as well make him a Creed of his own let the Scriptuee say what it will to the contrary What is this but with the Papists to make the Scripture a nose of wax If St. James speak it so over and over that justification is by works and not by faith only I will see more cause before I deny it or say he means a working faith He that in all this can see one least spark of that professed sincerity which he protesteth in himself and requires in others worthier then himself let him make it out I can see nothing else but fraud doublenesse and falshood 1 When he sayeth that it is the very scope of a Chapter and not only some one phrase that here holds forth justification by works before God it is the same which he hath from Bellarmine Bel. lib. 1. de justif cap. 15. Scopus Jacobi saith he fuit demonstrare fidem veram atque Catholicam ad salutem sine operibus non sufficere c. i. e. The scope of James in his Chapter was to shew that a true and Catholick faith is not sufficient without works to salvation and with as much truth and fidelity doth this man speak it as did the other from whom he learned it This being no more the scope of this Chapter or of James in it then to deny the salvation which is by Christ and to set on men to seek it by the Law 2 That this phrase of justification by works in Mr. Baxters sense is no whit dissonant from any other Scripture whether he means difference in sound or difference in substance is as very a paradox as if he had said that contradictories are not dissonaÌ„t For if this doctrine after Mr. Baxters sense must stand as true doctrine and for the Gospell of Christ then must we cast away almost if not altogether all the other Scriptures of the new Testament as hereticall and limit our selves to this alone and to Mr. Baxters glosse in it to learn true righteousnesse and the way to life For how vain empty and audacious his annihilating of Pauls doctrine about justification with one breath is we shall see in its proper place and finde that he destroyes the genuine scope and meaning of that Apostle in many of his Epistles to sacrifice all to his imaginary scope of James in some few words here delivered 3 When he tels us of wresting and making a Creed c. he proclaims to the World that all the Protestant Churches which have constantly defended justification by faith without works i. e. by Christ Jesus apprehended by faith without concurrence of works c. have wrested and violated the Scripture set up a Creed of their own in despight of the Scriptures speaking to the contrary For what he cunningly and seemingly fastens upon one Mr. Pemble he layes to the charge of all the Protestant Churches there being not one
himselfe our Divines give an interpretation to this one passage that may declare it though it hath a seeming yet not to have a reality of dissent from the rest Because if this be Canonicall and from the H. G the H. G. cannot contradict himselfe In expounding this dispute of James therefore the Protestants take notice of a two fold homonymy of words one in the word Faith the other in the word Justifying both which Paul and James use but use them the one in one and the other in another sence so that though they seeme somwhat to differ in words yet in sense they speake the same thing 1. They say as when Paul speakes of Faith to justification by Faith he meanes a true and lively Faith which fetcheth power from the merits of Christ to Iustifie and from the spirit of Christ to Sanctifie so Iames here battereth under the name of Faith a bare profession and boasting of Faith which some Hypocrites leaned on to Iustifie them being wholly destitute of Faith indeed that is alive and effectuall to draw from Christ matter both to Iustification and Sanctification 2. They say that as Paul takes the word Iustifying for remission and absolution before God so James takes it as oft as he requires here works to Iustifie for the declaration of the truth of our Faith and Iustification before men Yet let not this their distinction if it may fitly be so termed and exposition bee taken up unlesse it hath sufficient grounds from the Text to beare it up I shall begin first with the latter because Mr. Baxter there begins That Justification by works is by James understood the declaring us to man to have true Faith and to be Iustified by it they bring these reasons to prove 1 James himselfe even in expresse words affirming it ver 18 Shew me thy Faith without thy workes and I will shew thee my Faith by my works where he tels us that by Iustifying he means the shewing or declaring our Faith and Justification not to God but one to another And thus he denieth Faith which is not Shewed by works to Iustifie i. e. to Shew or declare us to men Iustified 2. ver 21 where he saith was not Abraham our Father justified by works when he had offered Isaack his Son upon the Altar doth he speake of Gods Iustifying Gen. 15. 6. him or declaring him to be justified unto men Not the former for God had justified him by Faith many yeares before and there was no diâ—uption according to Mr Baxters doctrine in the intervall by any apostacy made by Abraham that of justified he became unjustified and needed here to be justified anâ—w How then was hee justified by offering his Sonn Can there be any other way not repugnant to reason devised but this that God here by proving and bearing him up in so searching a proof and Temptation to shew so matchless an act of obedience did declare to the world that his Faith was in sincerity his feare and love unfained so that all must be restrayned from charging him with selfe respects and Hypocrisy in all the professions that he made towards God Or what less is to be drawn from those wordâ— from Heaven Gen 22 12. upon this act of Abrahams obedience Now I know that thou fearest God seeing thou hast not witheld thy Son thy onely Son from me Did not God know what was what himselfe had wrought in Abrahams hart before this tryall of him doth he need outward actions to manifest to him what is in the heart within M. B. so much cleavs to theÌ„ that make all things which God doth to flow from his prescience that he will not ungod God so much as to deny that he knew as perfectly before as after tryall Why saith he then now I know but to intimate that now he had given a strong evidence both to the present and future generations to know that God knew and therby to convince men of all ages that they also must know the truth of Abrahams Faith feare and justification 3. The same might bee said of Rahabs justification by workes in receiving the Messengers and letting them forth another way ver 25. Did such a work as this justifie her before God or obtain to her remission of sins and deliver her from everlasting vengeance when there cannot be the least probable conjecture that shee had then any Faith in Christ or had ever heard of a Christ to come Then let us disclaime that Fabulam de Christo as one of the Popes termed the Gospell Righteousness is by workes without Faith without Christ and Stapletons glosse â—apleton Anrid p. 82 83. upon Pauls Iustificamur fide i. e. non absque side we are justified by Faith i. e. not without Faith because Faith is necessary to justification though not without works sufficient to it must be rejected as too Evangelicall And then also how shal Mr Baxters Thesis not fal which makes workes collateralls with Faith in Christ to justification workes can do it without Christ But if all this intrench upon Blasphemy then was shee justified by workes to men to the Israelites who by this Act toward them had so farr evidenced her fidelity to them and their cause that thereupon shee was taken into Covenant with them delivered from the ruine which befell Iericho and after as it were adopted or naturallized into the Common-wealth of Israell Ye have one part of the exposition and the grounds of it which Mr Baxter concealed that the unwary reader might despise it as groundlesse Mr Baxter opposeth it tellâ— us it is false and it may appeare thus B. p. 294. The Worlds Iustification frees us but from the worlds Accusation to which it is opposed And therefore it is but either a Iustification from Mans Laws or else a particular Iustification of us in respect of some particular Facts or else an usurped Iudgement and sustification for they are not constituted our Iudges by God and therefore wee may say with Paul it is a small thing with me to be judged of you or of mans judgement And so a small thing to be justified by men from the accusations of the Law of God But the justification in James is of greater moment as appears in the Text. For 1. It is such as salvation dependeth on ver 14. 2. It is such as followeth only a saving Faith But the world may as well justifie us when we have no faith at all I therfore affirm 1. That the world is no lawfull judge of our righteousness before God c. 2. Nor a competent capable judge and cannot passe any certain true sentence c. 3. If they could yet works are no certain Medium or evidence wherby the world can know us to bee righteous For there is no outward work which an hypocrite may not perform and inward works they cannot discern c. So that if it bee not certain that the Text speaketh of justification before God I scarce know
what to be certain of It were more tolerable and excusable for me to leave the grounds of one single man giving his private interpretation of this Scripture despised unexamined and unanswered than for him so to deale with all the Churches of Christ But I will not be a follower of him that followes not Christ in lowliness and his Precept in selfe-deniall His dispute here is two fold 1 to prove that Iames speaks not of the declaration of our justification before men 2. To prove that he speaks of our justification before God when he mentioneth justification by works To the former all that he saith is Sophisticall and Fallacious For if wee grant that by the World hee meanes the whole generation of men both good and evill which yet can hardly bee drawne from his dispute which to make our assertion odious would make it out as relating only to the wicked of the world that these must be the alone Judges Notwithstanding his whole Argumentation is a meer 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 a waving the question with a false assumption that by Justification before men we meant a raising of a Tribunall upon earth in opposition to Gods in heaven there to set up men to be judges and to passe sentence of justification and remission of sinnes one upon another according to the evidence of every ones works The falshood wherof hee proves by the illegality of such a judicature and incompetency of the judges and evidence for it And what is this but a Devill of his own raysing and laying again For what one rationall man in any of the Reformed Churches ever dreamed of such a justification All that wee understand heerby is but a declaration and discovery of the tree by its fruits of the state of a man before God that he hath justified or not justified him according as we see the fruits of justification i. e. the works of sanctification following or not following the profession of faith And all this not by a judiciall sentence given for or against any nor by the judgement of infallible faith or knowledge but in the judgement of charity alone which hopeth all things beleeveth all things thinketh no evill except by strong evidence it bee drawn to it 1. Co. 13. 5. 7. In fighting against this doctrine Mr. Baxter fighteth against Christ against the Holy Ghost the Author of it not onely heer but elsewhere also By their fruits ye shall know them saith our Saviour Mat. 7. 16. By this shall all men know that ye are my Disciples if yee love one another Io 13. 35. that the World may know that thou hast loved them Io 17. 28. He that is of God heareth us he that is not of God heareth us not hereby know we the Spirit of Truth and the Spirit of Error 1. Io 4. 6. Let your light so shine forth before others that they seeing your good workes may glorifie your Father which is in Heaven Ma 5. 16. I magnifie my office if by any meanes I may provoke my bretheren c. and save some of them Ro. 11. 14. By your orderly carriage c. the unbeleever shall be convinced fall downe worship God and report that God is in you of a truth 1. Cor. 14. 24. 25. That he that is of the contrary part may be ashamed having nothing evill to say of you Tit. 2. 8. Having your conversation honest among the Gentiles that whereas they speake evill of you they may by your good works which they see glorifie God 1 Pet. 2. 12. Because by this deed thou hast given great occasion to the enemies of God to blaspheme 2. Sam. 12. 14. God hath begun and will perfect in you the good worke as it is meet for me to judge of you because c. Phil. 1. 6 7. I am perswaded of you things that accompany salvation because of your works and labours of love c. Heb. 6. 9 10. Wee give thanks to God for you c. since we heard of your Faith in Christ Jesus and love to all the Saints for the hope which is laid up for you in Heaven Col. 1. 3 4 5 To the Saints which are at Rome Corinth c. and hundreds of the like Scriptures which testifie the declaration such a declaration of the Faith Saintship Justification and salvation of others by the evidence of their works that we ought that it is a sinne in men by the judgement of Charity not to acquiesce therein And on the contrary part testifying the want of such an evidence to be an occasion given to all men to reject our Faith and justification in the profession thereof as spurious and vaine Against all these Mr. Baxter excepreth pronouncing that mans judgement herein is illegall incompetent and the evidence insufficient therefore to make use of any judgement or discerning in this kind is usurpative Doth he herein fight against men or against God Suppose that the event in any thing prove contrary to our judgement yet is there not sin in such judgement while we follow Christs Rule and to be deceived by Charity rightly ordered if it may be called a deceivednesse yet is it no sinfull deceivednesse What hee produceth from the Apostle Vnto me it is a small thing to be judged of you or of mans judgement c. 1 Cor. 4. 3. is nothing subservient to his turne For the Apostle there speaketh of their unjust Censures of him besides and against Christs Rule the Rule of Charity from which while they erred their judgement was not to be regarded and in relation to the future judgement which followes not mans but Christs owne knowledge of us Thus have we found one part of his arguing vaine and wide from the scope in going about to prove that James his Justification by works is not to be taken for the declaring of us to men to be truly justified His second dispute is to prove that this Justification by Works is to be understood of our justifying by works at Gods Tribunall His Reasons to prove it are partly in his words before transcribed partly in a new supply thereunto added The first Reason in the former is B. 1. It is such as Salvation dependeth on ver 14. Brevis esse laboro Obscurus fio No mans immoderate prolixity and tediousness hath ever so much troubled mee as this mans pretended affectation of conciseness and brevity By it when hee speakes nothing he gets the advantage to bee thought of fooles that he speaketh great and mysticall things Were it not that I regard such as are too apt to run after his whistle though they know not his tune I should rather kick at such Delphicke mystericall passages of his than take them up to looke on them If James here take not justifying and saving for the same thing then to use Mr. Baxters words I am not certaine what to be certaine off So that when he saith it is such a justification as salvation dependeth on it is one as if hee
Even Mr. Pemble himselfe whose words hee can almost if not altogether rehearse without book gives it as the common interpretation of Protestant Writers so that he cannot be ignorant of it Yet he saith nothing to it and saith all to what none denieth Is this sincerity in handling the chiefe point of mans salvation Such as hee begged from God upon his knees or the use of that which he injoyns upon us tenderness in the interpretation of Scriptures But we must leave him in his own way because hee is resolute therein Sith hee will not answer us let us answer him in these things which in stead of an answer to us he would fish from the Text for himself Br. pag. 299. 1. When it is sayd we are justified by works the word by implieth more than an idle concomitancy if they only stood by while Faith doth all it could not be sayd wee are justified by works We grant it doth much yea almost all in the justification wherof James there speaks viz. before men And this is that which he speaketh ver 21. 22. 23. of Abrahams justification by works fulfilling that Scripture which sayth Abraham beleeved God and it was imputed to him for righteousness How did his justification by works fulfill the Scripture which affirmed him to be justified by faith but as this great work and fruit of his faith declared and manifested to men the truth of that Scripture and the truth of his faith by which he was so many yeers before justified B. p. 300. 2. When the Apostle saith by workes and not by faith onely hee plainly makes them concomitant in the procurement or in that kinde of causality which they have especially seeing he saith not as he is commonly interpreted Not by Faith which is alone but By Faith onely 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 All is granted as before of the justification before men The profession of Faith or to say we have Faith is not sufficient without declaring it by works so to justifie us Therefore saith the Apostle Shew me if thou canst thy Faith without thy works and I will shew thee my Faith by my works vers 18. B. 3. Therefore he saith that Faith is dead being alone because it is dead to the use and purpose of justifying for in it selfe it hath a life according to its quality still This appears from his comparison in the former verse 16 that this is the death he speaks of And so works make Faith alive as to the attainment of its end of Justification We grant that the hypocriticall profession of Faith which James reproveth is as all other sinne alive to condemne the unbelievers and unjustified but dead to the use of justifying us in our consciences before God or outwardly before men But that the addition of workes to such a dead Faith can make it alive to justifie a man before God we deny neither doth James affirm though there may be some force that way to his justification before men who are subject to failings in their judgement In the fourth place he findes something to say for and something against the Analysis of Piscator and Mr. Pemble When he would depresse it at the utmost he can onely say that they seeme to faile in the Explication of the 22. verse about the 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Faiths working with Abrahams workes and perfecting by workes In this I leave the Reader to peruse Mr. Baxter and them whom hee opposeth from thence to judge which party layes the surer ground of their interpretation As to the question in hand the working of both together to justifie and declare his faith perfect or sincere to men doth nothing strengthen his assertion or weaken ours The rest that hee hath in this Section are meere words without proofs as also his Answer given to some Objections made on our part and the same so curt that the best examination of them is to leave them unexamined untill he bring somthing to prove them Yet what of all that hee saith heere hath or seemes to have force to some other end I may possibly in its proper place call it into Examination CHAP. VII Argument Mr. Baxters sixth Argument to prove justification by works drawne from the Identity of the Conditions of justification and salvation examined To which are added the Rules which Protestant Writers give for the Right understanding of such Scriptures as promise eternall life to men of such works and qualifications an enquiry into the force of those Scriptures out of which Mr Baxter seeks to evince that eternall life runs upon condition of works A Sixth Argument he draweth from the Identity of Justification and Salvation in relation to the Condition of their procurement and attainment He layes it thus p. 310 B. Thes 78. Our full Justification and our everlasting Salvation have the same conditions on our part But sincere obedience is without all Doubt a condition of our sâ—lvation Therefore also of our Justification We except here against the Terms or Phrases used in the proposition and that 1. against that which by way of distinction hee names our FULL Justification implying thereby that there is an empty or at least partiall maimed and not full Iustification before God as by what he hath oft said before by his own expressing himselfe and his meaning in the Explication of his Thesis he makes evident The Protestants utterly deny this 1. and 2. partiall and full unperfect and perfect Iustification acknowledging one onely Iustification of the New Covenant which as an act of God is simul semel perfect admits of no degrees or increases though as to a mans owne apprehension and comfort it hath its increases and decreases And whatever Mr. Baxter hath hitherto brought to proove on his part wee have found no lesse vaine than is that which hee seekes to prove The Scripâ—ure is altogether ignorant of such a two fold Iustification so that we leave it as Mr. Baxters not Gods Iustification 2. Against that which by the like way of distinction hee calls our everlasting salvation implying thereby a temporary salvation which is by Christ in respect whereof the saved may be unsaved againe and so the salvation which they have by Christ become transitory not everlasting Both these wee deny and detest as Popish Socinian and Arminian doctrines what audaciousnesse is it in Mr. Baxter to name them and not to prove them to beguile his credulous Reader not acquainted at all with Controversies with an opinion that these things are knowne and granted by Protestants who detest the hearing of them and with unresistable arguments of Scripture oppugne the Authours of them Wee shake off as prodigies in the Gospel Doctrine of Iustification and Salvation the Attributes which hee giveth in that sence in which hee gives them It is a bad Cause that seekes the support of Sophistry and fallaciousness to support it Truth loves to bee attended with simplicity and plainnesse Let Mr. Baxter say why he puts
being most drawne from naturall Philosophers and Theologers mounts not above Morality tels us nothing of spirituall things that the Gospel wholly treats of shuns the very word Spiriall as a rock on which all the pride of man might suffer shipwrack and the grace of God in Christ be alone exalted Besides how far thâ—se conditions are to be stretched whether only so far as that only their absence doth hinder but their presence doth not put or inferr justification and salvation as the effects in which sence wee are wont to take the Causa sine qua non or else so far that both their absence doth hinder and their performance produce these effects In these and many other things whereof I shal be forced to speake in its proper place Mr. Baxter will not impart his meaning to us that he may take his liberty to traverse his ground and under the name of Condition ascend and descend run sometimes in a wheele and sometimes in a race play all in sight and least in sight at his pleasure reserving still to himselfe this advantage to help himself with his Conditions widening and straitening them making them the same with or more than his Causa sine qua non having kept the power in his own hand as it shal be most inservient to his ends In the meane while wee are permitted onely to heare the humming and bombing but not to see the buz whether it be a Hornet or a Beetle What hee will not himselfe directly tell us wee must therefore take leave to gather from his writing as well as we can In his Explication of this Thesis even in that part thereof which I have before transcribed being to prove that justification and salvation have the same Condition hee tells us oft that we are both justified and saved by works Here to follow his owne exposition he teacheth pa. 300 that the word By implieth more than an idle presence and concomitancy if they only stand by while the work is in doing it could not bee said we are justified by works That it speaks out works to have their agency and operation in procurement or in that kind of causality which they have And this is the same which under the 17. 18. and 19. Theses he had before delivered of a twofold Righteousness Christs Righteousnes and our Righteousness ours as absolutely necessary as his to salvation both in their kind effectually procuring it So in that which followeth in the explication where to be the condition of our salvation and to have a hand in or give right to justification are put by him as the same thing or as equipollent phrases So that under the word condition he involves all the Papists efficiency and as much as after their and his defining and modifying of Merits is comprehended in their doctrine of Merits In this sense therfore we deny Works or Obedience to be a condition of salvation 1. Because thousands are saved without works viz. all that have been or shal be saved being never in a capacity to work 2. Because the New Covenant in promising salvation makes it to follow grace and faith not works yea grace and faith in opposition to works as hath been before shewed cap. 15. of justification and salvation together And that not by the vertue of that dung and rags and filth of mans righteousness wherwith Mr. Br. filleth the belly of his faith in the largest sense Thes 70. but by the vertue of Christ its object which it receiveth Jo. 1. 12. and of the aâ—undance of the grace and righteousness which it receiveth from Christ in receiving him Ro. 5. 19. 3. Because it is by inheritance as by our union unto Christ wee are made and adopted to bee with him children and joint heirs Act. 26. 18. Ro. 8. 16. 17. Gal. 3. 18. Eph. 1. 11. 14. Gal. 3. 29. and 4. 30. 31. Tit. 3. 7. and else-where and that of Grace freely therfore without works For then should it be of debt and no more of Grace Ro. 4. 4. and 11. 6. 4. Because if it be at all by works then wholly by works Christ is excluded will not profit will be all or nothing do all without works and give no place or partnership to works with him in the business of salvation if we bring any thing of works to save us hee leaves us wholly to our works to save or damn us If ye be circumcised Christ shall not profit you ye are debtors to the whole Law i. e. If ye bring works in part to save you yee must trust wholly to works to save you Christ is become of none effect to you Gal. 5. 2. 3. 4. 5. Neither can they bee a condition in that way of causality to which Mr. Br. professes himselfe to tie it viz as the Causa sine qua non For 1. the property of that kind of causality or conditionality not extended beyond it self can only by its absence deny the effect as in this case the want of obedience and good works can onely deny them which refuse or neglect them to be saved or have right to salvation but by iâ—s presence cannot Ponere as the say i. e. conclude or evince the effect that he which doth them shall live in them or be saved by them no nor yet that they shall be saved For if they can it is by some other and not by this kinde of causality which Mr. Baxter attributes to them 2 Neither doth it as himselfe describes its opperation in its causality to salvation remove the impediments of salvation which are in generall sinne in particular chiefly unbeleefe If good workes can remove these it may save But it can neither remove the guilt of that which is past by way of purging it or satisfying for it neither is it made instrumentall to put us into the possession of Christs satisfaction and purging for it precedes not but follows it whatsoever Mr. Br. hath sayd to the contrary Nor can it stop the flux of sin and unbeleefe but that it breaks out upon every of our good works to make them in themselves evil and damnable and doth no further or otherwise remove than by denying unbeliefe so far as we doe beleeve and the neglect of duties as far as we have diligence and zeal to perform them But this cannot bee called rightly the removing of the hindrances of our salvation therfore it cannot be the Causa sine qua non of our salvation 6. Because salvation is the gift of Gods free grace Ro. 6. 23. Jo. 10. 28. 2. Ti. 4. 8. But it is a payment of justice and not a gift of Grace which is made the wages of works Didst thou not agree with me for a peny Take what thine is by contract and condition of the bargain and go thy way Mat. 20. 13. 14. Wheras contrariwise the free gift hath no other foundation or condition but Gods free love and good pleasure He hath mercy on whom he will have mercy Ro.
9. 15. So that it is not of him that willeth or of him that runneth but of God that sheweth mercy verse 16. Many other Arguments have our Divines against the Papists about this question which I intreat the Reader to fetch from them for his fuller satisfaction Now let us see what Mr. Baxter brings to prove that obedience and good workes are the condition of our salvation Yet by the way let us note that the Argument it selfe which here Bell. de ju 〈…〉 4. 〈◊〉 he seeks to confirme is the Papists and great is Belarmines striving to maintaine it as his great prop of justification and salvation by works Si promissio vitae aeternae est conditionata faith he ut C 〈…〉 probavimus certè necessarium est implere conditionem si quis salvus fieri velit â—â—e if the promise of eternall life be conditionall 〈◊〉 I have proved in the first Chapter certainly he must nec 〈…〉 fill the condition that willâ—eâ— saved This Condition of which hee speakes is the same with Mr. Baxters viz. the Condition of works Neither shall it be impertinent heer to take into consideration some rules of our Divines for the right understanding of the minde of the holy Ghost in promising eternall life unto persons of such and such qualifications or that perform such and such duties before wee descend to examine the particular promises and testimonies which Mr. Br. alleadgeth These are principally such as follow 1. That they belong so farre as to bee effectuallized to none else but such as are vitally within the covenant of Grace under the protection of the bloud of the Lamb in spirituall union with Christ Jesus the mediator of the new Covenant according to that of the Apostle All the promises of God in him are yea and in him Amen never effectuallized to them that are not in him 2 Co. 1. 20. To Abraham and his seed were the promises made he saith not his seeds as of many but of one and to thy seed which was Christ viz. in him alone and to them alone to be confirmed which are in Christ Gal 3. 16. Therfore the blessedness which Matthew in sound of words seems to hold forth more generally Ma. 5 3. c. Luke as the Expositor of him or rather of the mind of Christ in those promises contracts to the right objects or persons to whom they were to bee made good thus Jesus lifted his eyes upon his disciples and said Blessed be YEE poor for yours is the Kingdome of God Blessed are YEE that hunger YEE that weep c. implying that the blessedness was to come upon them not by the vertue of these Acts and qualifications mentioned but upon this ground alone that they were his Disciples by him Gospellized and received into Covenant this is that which Augustine so much presseth in such promises to looke to the Root which is Christ and that the reward is not from their works because they are holy but because they are holy or Saints which wrought them and that they are thence saints from whence righteous not from the works but from the Faith of the workers 2. That in such promises the qualifications or works of the persons to whom they are directed are mentioned not as the ground or foundation of the blessednesse promised but to shew the method and order which God observes in bringing them to the possession therof Because he is holy pure spirituall therfore he powrs into them his purifying sanctifying and adopting spirit to conform them to his own will and nature before hee brings them into the full and reall fruition of himself So hee promiseth all the heaven of felicities to the meek the righteous the saints to them that love him that fear him that obey him not therby insinuating that hee found them but that he hath made or will make them such as many as he will crown at last with glory Heerin the power of that father of Spirits excelleth and exceedeth the power of the fathers of our bodies He new creates their hearts new forms their wills puts into them a new spirit therby making them as Peter saith partakers of the Divine Nature and to enjoy the kingdome of God within them heer before they be translated to it above 3. Nevertheless the foundation of all these promises is not such acts and qualifications in us but the relation of sons in which wee stand before God Such God beheld us in Christ before wee were born such hee hath made us that truly beleeve by the grace of the new Covenant having begotten us to himself of incorruptible seed 1. Pet. 1. 23. we are born of God and have received the spirit of adoption by which we cry Abba Father So that our salvation dependeth not upon the vertues and good works which are mentioned in the promises but upon this our relation of sons if sons then heirs c. Ro. 8. 15. as a speciall friend of Mr. Br. who walks by the same rule and the same spirit with him hath acknowledged heerin consenting with our Divines and stoutly maintayning their Assertion at least because it seemed to give some fulture to his cause And I suppose Mr. Br. will not heer leave him whom in all the rest he followeth 4. Yet what the Lord giveth to and hath prepared of endlesse glory for his children as his children he doth oft-times hold forth and promise to them as a reward of such gifts of grace in them and of works which they have done or sufferings that they have undergone for his sake Not but that it was provided for them and promised to them before all such works and sufferings as they were children but for some other honourable ends which I shall in part mention having first instanced some promises of this kind Before the birth of Isaac long had the Lord of free grace promised to Abraham all blessedness corporall and spirituall present and future that his seed should be as the dust of the earth as the stars of heaven numberless that he should bee blessed and in him all nations of the earth be blessed that the land of Canaan the type and the eternall land of Promise the Antitype should be his and his seeds for ever Ge. 12 2. 3. and 13. 15. 16. and 15. 1-6 and 17. 1-8 Yet afterward cha 22. when Abraham had shewed that notable fruit of his faith fear and love to God in offering his son Isaac in obedience to Gods command God called from heaven to him by an Angel and sayd By my self have I sworn because thou hast done this thing and hast not with held thy son thy only son That in blessing I will blesse thee and in multiplying I will multiply thy seed as the stars in heaven and as the sand c. and in thy seed shall all the nations of the earth be blessed because thou hast obeyed my voice Ge. 22. 15-18 We see heer that promised as a reward of this act of
and order he can call his but the substance of all is theirs as to Justification by works and from them in common with the Socinians and Arminians as to Justification by Faith as an Act or Worke. This I could easily make evident by affixing but marginall quotations of those Popish and Arminian Authours to this Worke whom in every particle hee followeth as having spoken the same things before him if I had now that which once I had that which might be called a Library By how much the more I admire some that make their concourse confluence to him from all parts as to an Oracle to learne from him that which at home by their owne fire Eckins Hosius Vega c. or the more ancient Schoolemen before them or Beâ—â—arminâ— with the Jesuits and Arminians since them would have taught them more at large or which besides other hundreds of our Divines one Chamier in his 3 Tome of his Panstratia would have given them to understand at large together with a large and full confutation of all as to the Papists Yet see with what confidence Mr. Baxter speaketh It is most clear and beyond all dispute c. What is so cleare that our proper compleat and actuall justification c. This is cleare by Scripture Yet neither hath he alleadged or can alleadge any one Scripture that tels us of or teacheth any such justification The Papists tell us indeed of a two-fold Justification but both in this life They say Christs judgement or sentence or our account and reckoning not our justification shall thus pass in the last day The Arminians indeed say as Mr. Baxter and hee hath learned to speake as confidently as they proving as little as they Now what boldness is it to call that from a pretended cleare testimony of Scripture our Actuall most Proper compleat Justification which the Scripture doth in no place call or bid us to call Justification in any sense or con-consideration we would grant to Mr. Baxter the use of his owne Phrase and use it with him if he would understand by the Justification in the day of Judgement onely either the publication and open declaration of the justification before given and received or the conferring on Believers the Glorious and eternall fruits above of their justification here or their exemption from the sentence of vengeance which shal be then pronounced against from condemnation which shal be then executed upon the unbelieving world in which sense it is sometimes indeed in Scripture called our Redemption and the day of Redemption to the Saints which to the world will be an evill day a day of judgement But this will not satisfie him and the Scripture grants no more so that we cannot please him without displeasing God Againe when he saith our most Proper Justification will be at the great Judgement according to our workes and according to what wee have done in the flesh whether it be good or evill Doth he meane first that the measure of our justification wil be according to the measure of our works great works and a great and full justification a little Treasury of workes and a little corner of justification This agrees not with his owne phrase in tearming it a compleat justificacation Nor will it cohere with the definition that he gives to this justification Thes 39. making it to consist in Gods acquitting from the Accusation and condemnation of the Law This Act of God or of Christ doth not recipere magis minus hee that hath more works cannot be said to bee more or he that hath less to be less acquitted but iâ— at all acquitted then compleatly acquitted acquitting and not acquitting being contradictories that admit of no medium but the one or other must stand in all its force Or 2. doth he mean that the being or not being of justification doth follow the being or not being of our Works no works and no justification but if works then justification will it not hence necessarily follow both that many which have died in Christ shall be condemned viz. all that after their union to Christ by the Spirit departed out of this life before they had time and oportunity to doe such works as Mr. Baxter after instanceth and many that never believed in Christ never were in Christ shall bee justified by Christ in the last day viz. such as have lived and died such as the Apostle Paul was before his conversion touching the Righteousnesse which is by the Law blamelesse Phil. 3. 6. and that of sincerity in opposition to hypocrisie and vaine glory walking in all good Conscience before God As for faith in Christ hee doth not heere touch upon and Acts 23. 1 whether any of his reasons which hee brings to confirme his Thesis will infer it we shall see in examining them 3. When he saith that Christ at that great Assize will not give his bare will of Purpose as the reason of his proceedings c. Let him say whether his intent in this passage were not to cast an Odium upon the Protestants as if they so taught And except hee can produce any one man that hath so taught and hath not still asserted that the damnation of the damned shall be for their sinnes and the glorification of the glorified a free gift of God for the satisfaction which Christ hath made for them with reference to their being in Christ Let him confess that he hath slandered them 4. In the rest that is contained in this Thesis we finde nothing but contradictions his unsaying and gainsaying of what he had before said A little before pag 294 295. to destroy that interpretation of James which our Divines bring that when he speakes of justification by workes hee meanes the declaring to men by works the truth of their Faith and Justification the man is angry and cries out An usurped Judgement and Justification I affirme The World is no lawfull Judge of our Righteousnesse before God neither are they competent or capable Judges of our Righteousnesse or unrighteousnesse neither are works a certaine Medium or evidence whereby the world can know us to be righteous for the outward part an hypocrite may performe and the inward part Principles and ends of the worke they cannot discern Why was it that hee was so hot there against the possibility of manifesting to men the truth of our Righteousness It was against his Cause there to owne it Here contrariwise Justification in the last day must passe by workes to declare to the World not only the righteousnes obedience of the justified but also the equity of the Justifier and to stop every month from speaking against either And now the world is no longer an usurping but a lawfull Judge not an insufficient but a competent and capable Judge not onely of mans righteousness but of Christs equity in judgement and works are become a certaine Medium and evidence to manifest both to the world How comes this sudden change
reason or ground of their glorification because the Grace of Christ mentioneth them is to lay the honour of Christs Grace in the dust They that shall be glorified even when Christ of his infinite Grace extolleth their service done to him shall depresse themselves that the entire prayse may bee his Lord when did wee thus and thus minister to thee what ever did we of any worth that thou shouldest owne it as a service to thee what thou imputest is no otherwise our observance but in thy acceptance It is therefore denyed that the justifying sentence as Mr Baxter termes it shall passe in the last day either for or according to works otherwise than hath beene before granted And if wee shall not at last be glorified according to and for our workes but that Mr. Brs. proofes in this particular faile Then is his labour lost in going about to prove the second particular that the reason hereof is because they are parts of the condition It must first appear that it is before wee trouble our selves to know in what respect it is so So that we will not contend about the second particular with him to deny what he concludeth that workes concurre in the same concausality with Faith to our glorification 1. Not to evidence the truth of our Faith nor secondly as the righteousnesss which the Law requireth not thirdly as a meer signe by which God doth discern our Faith nor fourthly as a mere sign to satisfie the justified person himselfe nor fiftly to satisfie the condemned world of the sincerity of our Faith All this we grant and further adde in the sixt place nor as a condition in Mr Baxters sense of our glorification And because none of these or other wayes therefore not at all The Scriptures which he brings pa. 322. n. 5. that seeme to hold forth the promise of glorification for our workes are of the same nature with those examined in the former Chapter alleaged by him and all as those gathered by the Papists to his hand and either do conclude no more than what a little before we have in this Chapter granted or pertaine to some of those ends of such promises of life which God maketh to our obedience specified in the former chap. I shall therefore here pretermit to speak to them because Mr Baxter alleageth them to another end here viz to prove that the mention of these works to judgement is more than to signifie their sincerity to the condemned world as in the end of that Section he expresseth himselfe And this we deny not So that it were impertinent to examine the premises where the conclusion is granted CHAP. IX Whether according to Mr. Baxter Doe and live be the voice of the Gospel as well as of the Law The question stated and resolved whether and in what respects Believers must act or work from life not for life IN the eighth place as naturall motions are strongest when they come neerest to their period and center so at the conclusion of his Aphorismes pag. 3. 4. and so onward to the end he multiplies Argument upon Argument or rather twisteth many arguments together in one under the notion of Queries The substance of all may bee gathered together into this one Syllogisme That Doctrine which by necessary consequence draweth after it many intolerable absurdities mischiefs and soul-damning evills must needs be a falsâ— doctrine But so doth the Doctrine of justification by Faith or by Christ instrumentally received by Faith without the addition of works in a concausality with Fâ—â—â—h or Christ Ergo It is a false doctrine The Proposition is granted him The Assumption hee goeth about to cleer and make good by enumerating the particular absurdities and mischiefs that are consequentiall to this Doctrine And this he doeth by way of interrogations bearing the force of strong Affirmations I shal examine them in order The first query he puts in these words B. Doth it not needlesly constraine men to wrest most plaine and frequent expressions of Scripture A simple negation would here best suit with so untoward and audatious a question Neither shall I say any more to it but admonish the Reader to take notice that hee doth in these words frame an enditement against Christ his Apostles and all that beare the name of Protestants for sacriledge in wresting the holy Scriptures And that 1. Though he doth not and why but because he cannot bring any one Scripture which they have so wrested 2. And thereby affirmeth plaine enough to the capacity of every understanding reader that the Papists and Arminians alone have purely and truely interpreted the Scriptures as to the point of justification whom himselfe therefore followeth as their obedient disciple And 3. shewes us no reason therof but leaves us to conjecture what his meaning is viz that the Scripture is no farther Canonicall than after the interpretation and sense which the holy Mother Church alloweth it Nay we retort the argument upon him Iustification by works constraines the assertors thereof not onely to wrest many Scriptures but also to destroy and nullifie the whole Gospell and Salvation of Christ Therefore it is false doctrine This first query was but a warning peece but who can stand to beare the force of the second The man as if hee had newly come forth of Vulcans shop is all fiery spits out nothing but lightening and thunderbolts blowing into the bottome of Hell all that stand in his way How formidably he layes about him they that dare to come so neer may finde partly in this second querie it selfe but principally in his Appendix pag. 76. c. and in the highest strength of his wrath pag. 83. and onward to the end of pag. 98. First his querie here runs in these words B. pa. 324 and 325. 2 Qu Doth it not uphold that dangerous pillar of the Antinomian doctrine that we must not work or perform our duties for life and salvation but only from life and Salvation That we must not make the attaining of Justification or salvation an end of our endeavours but obey in thankefulnesse onely because we are saved and Justified A aâ—ctrine which I have else where confuted And if it were reduced to practise by all that hold it as I hope it is not would undoubtedly damn them for he that seeks not and strives not to enter shall never enter Now if good workes or sincere obedience to Christ our Lord be no part of the condition of our full justification and salvation who will use them to that end For how it can procure justification as a meanes and not by way of condition I cannot conceive In what part of the world Mr. Baxters elsewhere lyeth in which his confutation of this doctrine is to be found I know not I am not inquisitive to know I have enough in this and desire not to fish in any more of his foule waters But in pronouncing this doctrine of working and performing duties not for life buâ— from
this purpose in his Answer to the tenth eleventh Questions in his Appendix and to shew how hee there fights with his own phantasm feigns an Adversary and then quells him falls out with his own shadow never comming neer that which hee hath made to be the Question between him and the Protestant Churches but when the Adversary is Eastward hee rides out in indignation Westward beating every bush and wounding every bough that he meets with proclayming it an Adversary and so returns at last with as much gallantry as ever did William the Conquerour it shall be expedient for the disabusing of such as are apt in this kind to bee abused to premise something for the right stating of the Question heer controverted First then the doings duties and works about which the Question is conversant are of two kinds Legall or Evangelicall such as have their foundation in that law which is of Natural and Moral or such as are founded on precepts and doctrines of Gospell Positive right By the former I mean such works and duties as the naturall conscience specially if holpen by the written Law can apprehend to be and urge upon man as duty though there had never been a Christ or Gospell to adde further light By the later I meane such duties as are only in generall comprehended in the Law whatsoever the Lord shall at any time declare to bee his will and impose upon thee as thy duty thou shalt observe and do but cannot possibly be known in speciall to bee duties without a new revelation from heaven such as the Gospell is The former duties are naturall founded in Nature it selfe the later supernaturall because without a supernaturall manifestation they cannot be known and without a supernaturall power infused they cannot bee effectually performed All this Mr. Br. himselfe granteth in this his Treatise saving the very last clause which also because I finde him not any where flatly denying I shall forbear to prove taking it as granted with the rest 2. That this naturall righteousness and obedience was the Condition of the Old Covenant as to life and so remayneth still to them that remayn under the Old Coveant but so as that no man living can be saved by it since Adams fall but that whosoever is saved the same is saved after the tenour of the New Covenant i. e. the Covenant of Grace or the Gospel This also Mr. Baxter hath frequently taught and granted 3. That the duties of the New Covenant are of two sorts eyther more or lesse principall the more principall is fayth or receiving and embracing the Lord Christ together with the justification and salvation that are by him The lesse principall duties which are also pure Gospel duties are such as are subservient to faith or to the receiving of Christ alone to justification quickening illumination sanctification c. or to the reteyning of him and fuller closing with him to all these all other Evangelical ends for which he is given to us by the Father These 3. Positions are so frequently granted by Mr. Baxter in this his Book that I forbear to quote the places 4. That justification and salvation as the Scripture terms them a reward if indeed it doth ever so term justification as properly and strictly taken may bee considered first as benefits already conferred and in our possession in part or in the whole or else as rewards heerafter to be conferred the ground and foundation wherof was layd in our first conversion and union to Christ by faith together with the earnest and pledge of the spirit given to us by God to assure us of our full possession of all the fruits therof in the future And 2. if future the Gospel proposeth these as rewards of his free grace and benignity or else as rewards of dâ—bt due to our service and for the service done to him Neither in this can Mr. Baxter oppose or dissent 5. Then to come home and close to the Question it remains to be expressed how far all these duties are to be done for life I mean how far all or any kind of these are to bee performed for the attayning of justification and salvation as a reward and how far onely in love and thankfulness for the reward alrâ—ady made ours in possession or in hope 1. We grant that theâ— which are wholly under the Old Covenant having never the Gospel revealed unto them are bound to seek justification and salvation by the works of the Law or naturall righteousness still but they shall never attaine what they so seek because they are impotent to fulfill the condition Yet their unableness is no prejudice to Gods authority and obligation upon them It is otherwisâ— with them that live under the Gospel and have the Covenant of Grace in Christ revealed to them but have not yet so â—ffectually received Christ by fâ—ith as to beâ— justified and declared righteous within their own souls These are indeed to seek for justification and sâ—lvation yet not by the workes of the Law or legall naturall and meerly morall righteousnesse for this were to reject the new Covenant or Gospel with the justification which is by Christ and to hold themselves fast under the old Covenant in an incapacity to be justified and saved The best works of naturall righteousness which they can performe being but dead works of dead men like the stinch of Carrion offensive to the pure nosthrills of God who will therefore condemn not justifie for them 2. They that are in Christ and have obtayned justification and inchoat salvation by him i. e. have their conscience absolved and saved from sin and obligation to vengeance by faith in his bloud are to perform those works of naturall righteousnes not for life but from life not to procure thereby the life of justification for they have it already in Christ and to seek it more compleatly to be perfected by such works is as hath been before shewed to be so foolish as having begun in the spirit to seeke to bee perfected by the flâ—sh but in duty and thankfulness for so full and free a pardon and Gal. 3. 3. absolution which all our doings all our sufferings are insufficienr to answer Nevertheless the intuition of so great a redemption already attayned and in our possession together with the promise of so glorious an inheritance for the future life already confirmed to us by the seal of the spirit in the bloud of Christ are of such infinite value that we are to walk still in the splendor and glory of it so that our spirits should bee sublimated above earth and selfe to dwell and to spend our selves and be spent in the bosome of that Grace from which wee have received so much and expect yet so much more of ravishing and never ending felicity What neither eye hath seen nor ear heard nor the heart of man in a naturall way conceived of the riches of the incomprehensible bounty and free grace of God being
and his glorying that they prove wee may act for salvation p. 81. which as generally posited by him no man ever denied there is no need of answering that which they are brought to prove being granted At length in the same pa. 81. of his App. he frameth an objection made against his doctrine thus B. Object But is it not the most excellent and Gospel-like frame of spirit to doe all out of meere Love to God and from thankefulnesse for life obtained by Christ and given us To this Objection he gives a three fold Answer Bax. Answ 1. If it come not from love to God it is not sincâ—re But is it sincere if it come from love to God Is there not aswell a naturall love as a naturall fear of God in the hearts of all both good and bad Or was there ever any that hated God as God and good Or that served him from hatred to him If such a Naturall or Morall Love for I finde not Mr. Baxter ascending any where higher suffice to make the obedience of men sincere and because sincere a perfect and sufficient righteousnes to justification and salvation Then all will more fitly cohere than the golden crowne with the golden pantofle a universall conditioning righteousness with a universall conditionall salvation All shall be saved except the Antinomian Paulites or Protestants if Mr. Baxters Gospel stand if he misse none else but they B. 2. Yet doth not the Gospel any where set our love to God and to our own souls in opposition nor teach us to love God and not our selves but contrarily joyneth them both together and commandeth them both The love of our selves and desire of our own preservation would never have been planted so deeply in our nature by the God of Nature if it had been unlawfull I conclude therefore that to love God and not our selves and so to do all without respect to our own good is no Gospel frame of spirit As home to the matter as his doctrine of Justification to the truth Where was conscience when will and wit alone shew themselves to beguile his Readers with meere opinions and imaginary suspitions Who ever opposed the ordinate love of God to the ordinate and subordinate love of our selves When he hath degraded us from being men yea into a state beneath Beasts and bruits telling the world that we doe not appetere bonum desire and move unto any thing that is good yea our chiefe good thenceforth hee thinks the world in stead of hearing will trample us as other stocks and stones that have no sensitive appetite Our doctrine is of another frame Wee oppose the love of God which is from the spirit of Adoption not from Nature to the servile feare which is from the spirit of Bondage following heerin the light and testimony of the Holy Ghost Ro. 8. 15. 1. Jo. 4. 18. And this I doubt not to be also the meaning of the Apostle Gal. 5. 6. where hee makes the all on our part to justification consist in Faith which worketh by love i. e. in faith which carrieth out the beleever to work no more in slavish fear and by a mercenary spirit but in the freedome and spirit of Love And whosoever will but vnwinde the Clew of Pauls disputation in the whole 4. Chapter especially from verse 21. and so forward to this 6. verse of Chap. 5. shall I think have the suffrage of his own Reason for this interpretation For the Apostle having disputed of the bondage discending from Hagar to Ismael and his Children from Mount Sinai to those that held themselves under the Covenant of Works Doe and live there given and withall of the Freedom discending from Sarah to Isaac and his seed viz. the seed of Christ then included in and typified by Isaac i. e. from the New and spirituall Jerusalem to all true Christians concludes of all such We are not the Children of the bond woman but of the free and in 5. Chap. verse 1. exhorting them to stand fast in the liberty wherewith Christ hath made them free And forbidding and in the next 3 verses shewing the danger of returning againe under the servile yoke of the Covenant of works Do and live whereas by Faith and not by works the hope of Righteousness is to be expected he concludes in the sixth verse that neither circumsition nor uncircumsition i. e. neither workes nor any externall priviledges of the workers avail any thing to life and righteousnesse but Faith which worketh by love what is that but Faith which worketh by a new principle of filiall love and not from that olde principle of servile feare the proper adjunct of the Covenant of workes This is to be the Children of the free not the bond woman by the Faith of Christ alone to seek for righteousnesse yet to be still working from a principle of love not of feare to bring forth fruits of sanctification to him that hath freely justified us This man saith the Apostle hath entred into his rest as God hath entred into his rest Heb. 4. 10. As God having consummated the worke of Creation rested and ceased from his worke because all was perfect and needed no addition and Christ having offered one sacrifice for sins for ever sat downe at the right hand of God ceasing from further sufferings because our redemption is fully perfected and nothing more needed to bee added Heb 10. 12. 14. So every beeleever in respect of the rest of Grace having received by Faith the righteousnesse which is by this one sacrifice of Christ for the purging of all his sins sitteth downe for ever at rest in the fruition and firme tenure thereof ceasing from his owne workes to perfect his justification because it is already compleated and nothing needeth to be added to it All his workings henceforth is to manage so great a salvation to the glory of the Author as God worketh hitherto and Christ worketh for the governing and disposing to their proper ends the Creatures made and elect men redeemed Mr. Baxter contrariwise teacheth men so to love themselves as with love to destroy themselves and so to seek for life as to be sure to lose it forbidding them to enter into their Rest of Grace and calling them back to the yoke of bondage againe not suffring them to cease from their owne workes nor to doe that worke of God Jo 6. 29. nor to act in the Sp. of love but of feare and bondage Is not he one of those hard Taskmasters from whose cruelty Christ calleth his Disciples Come unto mee all yee that are weary and heavy laden with the yoakes and burthens which your legall Teachers impose on you and I will give you rest c. These will never permit you to have rest to your soules Mat. 11. 28 29. I conclude therefore that Mr. Baxters Conclusion of this his second Answer to the Objection is as patt to the purpose as an Oyster-shell to a hungry appetite and the love to
our selves which he teacheth to tend only to selfe-ruining B. 3. Thankefulnesse for what we have received either in possession title or promise must be a singular spur to duty But I pray you tell me Have you received all the life and mercy you doe expect Are you in Heaven already Have you all the Grace that you need or desire in degree If not why may you not labouâ— for what you have not as well as be thankefull for what you have Or have you as full a certainty of â—â— heerafter as you desire If not why may you not labour for it Al this is also totally besides the QuestioÌ„ which is not whether we may but how we are to labour whether with that most excellent and Gospel-frame of spirit consisting in love and thankfulnesse or mercenarily by works and whether in the way of Faith which the Gospel or of naturall Righteousness which the Law teacheth Many shall seeke to enter and shall not bee able faith the Master Wee through the spirit wait for the hope of Righteousness by Faith saith the Apostle Not so but by and for our Works not at all by Faith but as it is an act or worke saith Mr. Baxter let him shew his light and Authority to be greater than Pauls before hee looke that wee should run after him I shall put one question to him arising from the last of his Interrogatories which will be harder for him to resolve than a thousand such as he hath here wil be to us When hee tels us we must labour for the full certainty of Heaven hereafter is there any such certaintainty in this world attainable according to his principle of but â— conditionall justification and salvation untill the day of Judgementâ— or how is it to be obtained Let him make it out to us If he doth it I shall conclude that he can also turne Heaven into Earth and Earth into Heaven and nothing to bee unpossible to him if not let his Reader judge whether his indeavour be to delude or else to teach In the next Chapter or Section if wee attend onely to the sound and roare of words Mr. Baxter appeares more formidable from pag. 83. to the 98. of his Appendix in which hee presents us with thirteen Considerations to shew the vanity and intolerable damnable wickednesse of this supposed doctrine which he opposeth But the whole sloud of his wit wrath and eloquence heere poured out together runs into the dead Sea by a desart and desolate way in which it meets with no mortall crearure to wet or hurt it For who is there of all mankinde that hath said wee ought not to act for life in the sense which this man suborneth or otherwise than I have before oft expressed Much lesse is there any professed Christian that hath asserted as hee insinuateth That wee must not come to Christ that we may have life nor strive to enter in at the straite gate nor lay violant hands on the Kingdome of Heaven nor lay up for our selves a Treasure in Heaven nor seeke the Kingdome of God and the Righteousnesse the reof nor presse on for the attainment of the Resurrection c. Let him be named by Mr. Baxter that he may be brought forth and stoned which thus blasphemeth I shall not hinder it That which they teach is that Workes are not to be performed to this end that as works or doing as opposed to believing by and for their owne or our owne Righteousnesse in doing them they should put us into the possession of the life of justification and blessednesse If Mr. Baxter have any thing to say against this assertion or against that which I before laid as the state of the question it wil be taken into examination till then I shall leave him to fight with his owne shaddow having no loose time to spend in gazing upon the activity of such a Combatant CHAP. X. Arg. The Authour of the Booke intituled The Marrow of Moderne Divinity vindicated from the Aspersions wherewith Mr. Baxter defameth him and his Doctrine HEere because I am to follow and my taske is not to leave Mr. Baxter untill I have examined all that hee saith to prove Justification by works I am necessitated to fall into that which will be judged a Digression After hee hath enacted by a Law that to say wee must not worke for life is a Blasphemy or at least an intolerable errour and to hold it practically a necessarily damning Doctrine that whosoever doth it must be everlastingly damned for it All which wee acknowledge to bee in some sense true after the sound of the words though after the meaning of the Authour they can never be saved which practically hold the contrary as possibly I shall afterwards shew Now he proceeds to indite and arraigne to condemnation one Authour as guilty of this damning Doctrine viz. The Authour of the Book called The Marrow of Moderne Divinity and many his Accessaries viz. all those Divines that have annexed their approbatory subscriptions to the usefullnesse of it so finde we the man expressing himselfe Aphorism pag 330. B. When such a Book as that stiled the Marrow of Modern Divinity can have so many applauding epistles of such Divines when the doctrine of it is that we must not Act for justification and Salvation but onely in thankfulnesse for it This he speaketh onely in generall we shall finde his particulars following To this therefore I answer onely in generall 1 That it were to bee desired that Mr Baxter had inured no more dishonour upon thosâ— Divines to whom he dedicates his book by such his dedication than those forementioned Divines have attracted to themselves by their applauding epistles 2 And that those Divines with Mr. Baxter himselfe could mention so many sound parts in his booke both in the matter and ends of the Author as hee hath picked out imaginary errours in the other 3 As to the doctrine of that booke which he so accuseth I shall there examine in particulars where Mr. Baxter particularly drawes it into accusation and judgement Onely by the way let me thus far excuse my selfe 1 I never knew who was the Author of that worke 2. Neither have I read it otherwise than here and there a fragment as I found it lying in my friends houses so that I could no otherwise judge of it but ex ungue Leonem what the whole was but by that which my slender judgement told me the part which I read was not onely orthodox but singularly usefull 3 That I never knew there was a second part of it much lesse saw it until Mr Baxter by his quotation therof so told me But that since I have gotten both parts yet by meanes of other imployments have not had time any further to read it but where Mr. Baxter accuseth it of error 4. That if I knew the Author to be yet living I should have wholly left the defence of himselfe to himselfe It was not so much the
nothing c. When the Auâ—hor in the quoted place speaketh nothing of the New Covenant but of the Law of Christ by which hee there declareth himselfe to meane the Ten Commandements as they are now in the hand and disposing of Christ And this Law he understands also in relation not to the whole world but to them that are implanted into Christ his words being directed to Neophytus To such Christ having already borne the penalty of the Law in their stead temporall and fatherly chastisements onely for their purging and perfecting are threatned in case through infirmity they transgresse the Law In this I conceive hee alludeth to the priviledges of the Covenant made with David as the Type of Christ and his seed as the Type of Christs seed and so pertayning as a Gospel liberty no lesse fully to us than to them If his children forsake my Law breake my statutes c. Then will I visit their transgressions with the rod and their iniquity with stripes nevertheless my loving kindness will I not take utterly from him nor suffer my faithfulnes to fail my Covenant will I not break c. Ps 89. 31-34 And this is M. Brs. own doctrine when he teacheth that there is no deathly violation of the new Covenant besides final unbelief rebellion against Christ in and under Thes 32. 33. 34. and 37. But the Author whom Mr. Br. calls heer ad partes speaks not of finall unbeleefe or rebellion incident to the world but of some particular transgression of any of the Ten Commandements as hee expresseth himselfe through the infirmity incident to the Saints What fire and fury is there in this mans wrath that having made an Adversary will have him wounded vel per me though through his owne heart aniâ—amque in vulnere ponit If it be an intolerable errour in this man much more in Mr. Baxter who much more vehemently and upon sligâ—â—er and slenderer grounds asserts it The Scriptures which Mr. Baxter alleâ—dgeth as contraried by this doctrine speak eytherof such rebells as when the Grace of Christ is offered them persist in a finall refusall of it or of such hypocrites as having once seemingly tasted it Apostatize utterly from it And with these this Author hath nothing heere to doe Onely Mr. Baxter being heavily burthened with another Monster which hee had a purpose to have disburthened himselfe of in a Tractate of Universall Redemption being prevented by another must needs now and then case himselfe of it and speake out how hatefull to him the doctrine of the certaine perseverance of the Saints in grace is The other things which hee hints and but hints at as errours in this Author might bee taken into examination if Mr. Baxter would alleadge his words and shew what hee excepts against in them I see not but the passages are pure and cleare enough in the Booke if hee would forbeare the casting in of his salt-petre to corrupt them As he sayth it was not his businesse to have objected so neither was it my businesse to have defended had hâ—e not sought under a pretence of opposing this Booke to defame many truths of Christ CHAP. XI Whether according to Mr. Baxter the Doctrine of Justification by Faith without works tend to carnall Liberty and to the driving of Obedience out of the World IN prosecuting his second Quere Mr. Baxter hath lead us a long race In the rest he is more straight and short A third Quere which bears the force of another Argument to subvert Justification by Faith without works hee so proposeth as contayning another absurdity and evill likely to follow upon this doctrine His words are as followeth B. Aphor. pa. 325. Whether this Doctrine doth not tend to drive obedience out of the world For if mâ—n doe once beleeve that it is not so much as a part of the Condition of their Justification will iâ— not much tend to relax their diligence I know that Love and thankfulnesse should bee enough and so it will when all our ends are attained in our ultimate end Then wee shall Act for these ends no more wee shall have nothing to doâ— but love and joy and prayse and beâ— thankâ—full But that is not yet Sure as God hath given us the affections of Feare Desire Hope and Care so he would have us use them for the attainment of our great ends Therefore he that taketh downâ— but one of all our motives to obedience he helps to destroy obedience it selfe seeing we have need of every Motive that God hath left us I shall examine heere first the Quere it selfe then the amplification of it The Quere or Interrogation bears the force of a strong Affirmation That the doctrine of Justification by Grace without Workâ— doth tend to drive obedience out of the world and to relax mens diligence to good works It must bee therefore a prodigious doctrine that produceth so cursed an effect First then I demand whom he censureth as the Authors of so direfull an evill God or men If the Holy Ghost hath not taught men this doctrine let the guilt of this evill bee upon such men as have entertayned it But the Holy Ghost hath taught it To him that worketh not but beleeveth on him that justifieth the ungodly his Faith is imputed to him for righteousnesse But hee that worketh or brings works to be justified by them is excluded Ro. 4. 4. â— His is the blessedness to whom God imputeth Righteousness without works ver 6. Not of works but of him that calleth Ro. 9 11. If at works then not by Grace if by Grace then not of works Ro. 11. 7. By Grace through Faith not of works Eph. 2. 8. 9. Not our owne righteousnesse but the righteousnesse which is by the Faith of Christ Phil. 3. 9. Not by works of righteousnesse which wee have done but according to his mercy And many more testimonies before in a fitter place alleadged all in one harmony evincing the Holy Ghost to bee the Author of this Doctrine So that Mr. Baxter loadeth not man but God with this reproach of seeking to drive obedience out of the world 2. Whether hee hath not taken up this slander from the Monks and Jesuits Whether there bee any of them that having written against Justification by Faith which hath not aspersed it and our Churches that hold it with this scandall Or any one of the Protestant Divines which hath defended this Article of our Faith but hath spoken fully to the vindicating of this Doctrine from this so injurious a slander When Mr. Baxter is so much Popish that hee takes up every most frothy Objection of every shaveling of that side to adore it and so much an Anti-Protestant that hee scorns to mention what on our part hath beene regested in way of answer to it why takes he up his habitation among Protestants but to corrupt and seduce them 3. If hee meane by the World the unbeleevers of the World that are strangers to Christ and the Covenant
dead from further labouring and moving to this end For what righteousness what works can bee sufficient to such an atchievement So obedience to the Faith is nipt in the very budde where there is a sense and conviction of a mans naughtiness and nothingness 3. By taking off the spirits of a Christians love joy and alacrity in beleeving and serving when a humble and selfe-denying soul is once choaked with Mr. Baxters Doctrine that all the benefit which he hath or can have by Christ is to be only a probationer for justification and life even to his dying day that till then hee is but conditionally pardoned and conditionally adopted that Gods love to him may be anon turned into hatred his sinnes againe imputed and himselfe hurried into hell That his safety still depends upon his own works righteousnes no peny no Pater noster that the grace of God is let to farme for fine and rent no one promise of the word in all this his Booke being alledged by Mr. Baxter which I can remember of any support which the beleever shall receive from God in the state of Grace but all Selfe doe and selfe have This Doctrine eyther benummeth and freezeth up all a poore Christians love and delight in serving God emasculating his spirits to obedience or reduceth him under a yoke of bondage making him to worke possibly but in feare not of love as under the rod or rather in the fire fearing death and hell all his life time And whether this bee saving in Mr. Baxters accompt obedience or disobedience let them that are spirituall judge 4. By turning the very obedience of his Disciples into disobedience and rebellion The best works done to be justified by them and for them are the greatest abhomination in Gods accompt his Grace and Salvation are either denied or refused when wee bring works to appropriate it to us Rom. 4. 4 5. what is righteousnesse in its matter is sin in its end Therefore shall wee finde still that whosoever are admitted to those that seek to ingratiate themselvs by their good works though done in Christs name are hurled off from Christ I am not come to call the righteous but sinners to repentance I know you not depart from mee yee workers of iniquity More joy for one sinner that repenteth than for ninety nine just persons that need no repentance For a more full and satisfactory answer to the Argument contained in this Quere I leave the Reader to the perusing of the Protestant Divines that have written upon this Subject and abundantly refuted this calumny of the Papists what I have here said is rather an addition to them then a full answer to the Quere which I leave to be fetcht from them What he speakes in the Amplification of this Quere needeth no large examination First he grants That love and thankfulness should be enough to hold us to obedience and duty and will bee so when all our ends are attained in our ultimate end then wee shall act for these ends no more c. How untowardly doth this passage and and another passage of the former Quere hang together what he pronounceth here that love and thankfulnesse should be enough to hold us to duty without doing for justification and salvation and that which here should be and hereafter shall be our perfection the same he affirmes there if practiced will undoubtedly damne the Practicer So according to Mr. Baxter if a Christian endeavour sincerely to do what he should and to come as neere in this life as it is possible to the perfection which he shall enjoy in the future hee shall undoubtedly bee damned for it Who then goes about to drive obedience out of the world he or they whom he opposeth What use is to be made of the affections of feare desire hope and care to the attainment of our great ends hath been enough discussed in the examination of the former Quere and would be a meere Tautology here to do it againe Let it be proved once that God hath left Justification by workes to be a motive to obedience it shall be granted to bee a help to the destroying of Obedience to take downe this one Motive But if contrariwise Justification of sinners by Works and Morall Obedience bee erected not by God but by the Devill Mr. Baxters neither Sophistry nor Oratory shall induce us to leane upon the Devils crutch both to the forfeiting of our Justification and turning our Obedience into sin CHAP. XII Whether the doctrine of justification by Faith without workes be a soul-cozening doctrine or harden the people in a soul-cozening Faith what the doctrine of Faith which the Protestant Churches holde is and how farr from deserving this Calumny with something about the facility or difficulty to perswade the multitude to such a Faith HIs fourth Quere by which as by another Argument he goeth about to make odious and to destroy justification by Faith without works runs thus B. pag. 326. Doth it not much confirme the world in their soul cozening Faith surely that Faith which is by many thought to justifie is it that our people doe all most easily embrace that is the receiving of Christ for their Saviour and expecting pardon and salvation by him but not withall receiving him for their Lord and King nor delivering up themselves to be ruled by him I meet not with one but is resolved in such a Faith till it be overthrowne by teaching them better They would all trust Christ for the saving of their soules and that without dissembling for ought any man can discerne Are all these men justified c. A Chip of the same blocke with the former in the use of it Mr. Baxter as he hath learned of them from whom he hath received it levels against the very heart of Christ and his Gospell Had hee said with Iames that to say we have Faith and not to have workes is to cozen our souls I should have said with him But in that he speaketh not of a soul-cozening profession of Faith but layeth so horrid an imputation upon Faith it selfe this gives us cause to examine what Faith he meaneth that we may be able to discern whether that Faith or else Mr. Baxter by defaming it goe about to cozen our souls and so embrace the true friend and reject the Cheater This cozening Faith according to Mr. Baxter must needs bee that which squareth not in its nature and manner of justification with the justifying Faith viz. that Gospell Faith which neither as a deed and worke as a worke of Morall duty and worke of our owne righteousnesse of our perfect and meritorious righteousnesse doth begin and but begin to inright us to Christ and justification by him leaving to eyther vertues and works to perfect it but as an instrument ordeyned and given us of God by which we receive Christ alone offering up himselfe a sacrifice for us to bee cur whole righteousness to justification and that without
thought to justifie his meaning is which all the Protestant Churches and Divines teach and which our people doe all most easily embrace is the receiving of Christ for their Saviour and expecting pardon and salvation by him but not withall receiving him for their Lord and King nor delivering up themselves to be ruled by him Let him now name that one Church or one Theologist in any one of the Protestant Churches that hath so taught and divided the receiving of Christ as Lord and King from receiving him as Saviour and pardoner in justifying Faith or els confess that he hath drunk deeply into the Jesuits prenciples that all equivocations frauds lyes slanders and whatsoever is worse than these are all not only lawfull but also meritorious when practiced for the advancâ—ment of the Triple Crown and the Holy Mother-Church of Rome We do indeed divide works from Faith and banish them from having any concausality with it in justifying But let Mr. Br. produce one that hath divided Christ the King from Christ the Saviour or denyed him in either Title to be the object of justifying Faith or any one that hath taught that to be a justifying Faith which expecteth salvation from Christ but will not deliver up the soul to be ruled by him I chalenge Mr. Br. to vindicate herein his reputation and to manifest that he followeth the dictates of Naturall conscience at least and not of wilful malice against the truth by naming one that hath taught any such thing The Protestant Churches and Writers are so cleer herein that they do not divide from justifying Faith the very Assent that there is a God that hee made the world that he drowned it and repair'd it that Christ was the Son of the Virgin Mary that hee was born at Bethlehem circumcised at eight days old disputed among the Doctors turned water into wine and did many miracles or whatsoever els the Scriptures in the least things affirme to be true All this the justifying Faith assents to neither can it not assent to every truth of the word yet it so assents not as justifying In this act it knows nothing but Christ and him crucified Much lesse do they so divide as Mr. B. here against knowledg and conscience objecteth They so far shew themselves abhorrent from it that they utterly deny any to come to the Kingdom of glory but through Christs Kingdom of grace But the Doctrine it self which here he reneweth about the object of Faith Christ as our Lord as well as our Saviour I have examined before in answer to his fourth Argument Thither I send the Reader for satisfaction what the Protestants hold and upon what grounds here it is besides the matter to fall into a new dispute about it It shall suffice here only to examine the new Argument which he brings to prove that the Doctrine which holds forth justification by Faith is a soul-cozening but that which teacheth justification by works is a soul-saving doctrine For this is his meaning in what he disputeth here of Christ the Saviour and Christ the Lord made the object of justifying Faith as hee hath largely explayned himself before And if hee mean not so all that he here sayth is but a hunting after Grashoppers in the snow to fight with them For none is there to be found opposing what he sayth in the words and phrase he useth But himself is a sure Interpreter of himselfe and we must take him as himself hath explayned his meaning And then his Argument is drawn from the easinesse or difficulty of receiving the one or the other Doctrine It must be a soul-cozening doctrine which all are easily perswaded to be cozened with Thus wee find him expressing himself in that part of the Query which is before transcribed Our people saith he do all most easily embrace it I meet with no one but is resolved in such a faith till it be overthrown by teaching them better They would all trust Christ for the saving of their souls c. And in the following part of the Querie B. Let any Minister but try his ungodly people whether they will not all be perswaded very easily to believe that Christ will pardon and save them c. But whether it be not the hardest thing in the world to perswade them really to take him for their Lord and his word for their Law and to endeavour faithfull obedience accordingly Surely the easinesse of the former and difficulty of the later seemeth to tell us that it is a spirituall excellent necessary part of justifying Faith to accept unfeignedly Christ for our Governour and that part which the world among us will most hardly yeeld to and therefore hath more need to be preached than the other Were he a true Israelite in whom there is no guile which speaketh all this might be granted him But because he hath fully declared that he meaneth by receiving Christ for our Saviour justification by Faith in Christ the Redeemer and by receiving him for our Lord and Governour justification by works nothing can be safely granted to him The whole summ of his Argumentation amounts to this syllogism That doctrine of Justification which the multitude doth easily embrace is a soul-cozening doctrine but that which they are not without much difficulty perswaded to receive is a soul-saving doctrine But the multitude easily embraceth Justification by Faith alone and not without difficulty Justification by works Ergo the former is a soul-cozening the latter a soul-saving doctrine He must acknowledge that he thus argueth or argueth nothing or nothing to the question To the Proposition I distinguish first about the meaning of the terms And first about the word embracing or receiving betwixt a vitall or effectuall and a meerly historicall embracing betwixt a reall receiving and an assent of the judgment that the thing is to be received or more plainly beleeving and a mans saying he doth beleeve or his profession of Faith 2 Between that which is easie or difficult in it self or to mans naturall ability and that which God makes easie by the concurrence or leaves difficult by the with-holding of his grace Having thus distinguished in whatsoever sense he takes the Terms I deny both Consequenâ—â— of the Proposition For if he mean onely an externall assent to the verity and goodness of the doctrine All men which have reason in their understandings and freedom in their wills do with the like facility choose that which is made out to them to be good and refuse that which is made out to them to be evill Or if he mean a vitall and effectuall embracing the doctrine of Justification is alike difficult to all that are of the carnall multitude It is a spirituall doctrine and the naturall man receiveth not cannot receive spirituall things 1 Cor. 2. 14. Again if he mean an easines and difficulty in it self and to mans naturall ability The true doctrine of Justification is alike difficult yea unpossible to all effectually
to receive None can come to the Son except the Father draw him Jo. 6. 44. But if he mean a facility and easines of receiving by means of the concurrence of Gods grace making it easy then is it alike easy to all men that are holpen alike by Gods grace and alike difficult yea unpossible to all that are left destitute of it So that the easines or difficulty of perswading the multitude to entertain this or that doctrine of Justification can be no sure rule of concluding either doctrine to couzen or to save the soul Besides I deny the assumption in the whole and in both its parts For how can that which is a supernaturall doctrine be easily received by naturall men the whole stream of whose wisedom and will is against it such as is Justification by Faith in the redeemed or that which is a naturall doctrine dictated by naturall reason and conscience I mean a doctrine of naturall right be so excedent in difficulty to receive such as is Justification by works Mr. Br flies here to Experience to apologize for him Try saith he the ungodly people whether all would not whether there be a man to be found that will not easily be perswaded to beleeve that Christ will pardon and save them But whether it be not the hardest thing in the world to perswade them to take Christ for their Lord and to yeeld obedience accordingly c. Not to except here against his words in which he putteth a believing that Christ will pardon and save for a justifying Faith though when he doth but dream he hath taken that advantage against another as wee have seen he insults over him as over a mock-man or puppet and can hardly abstâ—in from tossing him in a blanket Nor against the ill disposing of the parts of the Antithesis glancing lightly over that which he would blow off into a vapour but giving its full weight and power to that which he will have to stand I shall take his words in that sense in which he would be understood by as many as he hath a hope to beguile And thus to his direction try whether all do not profess their Faith in Christ the Saviour that they trust and will trust in his merits alone for salvation and pardon I answer Try the ungodly multitude whether they do not every Mothers Child profess that they embrace Christ for their Lord and that they do and will yeeld obedience to him to their dying day as well as God shall give them grace Object But they say and do not professe but yield not actually this obedience Answ So the former also say and do not profess a full reliance upon and receiving of Christ for righteousness but perform it not For if they so received Christ they should have Rivers of living water flowing out of them Jo. 7. 38. of carnall should become spirituall and of unclean holy Nay if experience must be the judge Mr. Brs Cause falleth I have tryed it and by tryall found it the hardest task to perswade the multitude to receive Christ Crucified alone to their justification and salvation Prove the more ungodly party specially in the time of their distress upon their death-bed or otherwise when their Conscience is awaked and the terrors of God are upon them Seek now to perswade them to repose their affrighted souls upon Christ their Altar to trust in the Mediation of his blood how averse are they they look upon Christ as a hard and strict man a Judge a Law-giver distributing strict justice to every man according to his works And they alas have no vertue or goodness or holines to ingratiat themselves into his favour but sin enough to incense the very jealousie of his fury against them therefore dare not come to him because they have no worth of their own righteousnes and works that they can plead for themselves Look to the more whited Pharisees the Saints of Mr. Brs forming how hard is it to perswade them to cast off their own righteousnes that they may be found in Christ alone They put on their own raggs first and not Christ at all but upon them They thank God they have served God from their youth up have not defiled themselves with the filth and iniquity which they have seen in others have had such vertues and been full of such and such good works therefore they doubt not but Christ will recompence them with life and salvation But he that seeks to spoil or to perswade them to spoil themselves of the glory and power of such their vertues and good works to justification shall find it as hard a task as to wrest the Club out of the hand of Hercules as it is in the Proverb Men after mine own heart saith Mr. Br. Be it so yet that is nothing to the question except they be after Gods heart And Mr. Brs Argument is hereby dissolved For it appears that it is not easy to perswade the multitude to receive Christ alone to salvation But whether his chief scope in this his reasoning be not to condemn all the Protestant Churches of levity and impiety for departing from Rome so easily in thousands and ten thousands together in so many Nations and within so few years by the lure of this Libertine and soul-cozening doctrine as he terms it I leave it to his own Conscience to judge This himself makes evident that in the Articles of grace and justification he holds it a damnable schism in us so to have divorced our selves from Rome and applyeth himself with all his strength to make up the breach and bring us back again The rest which Mr. B. hath interserted and which followeth in this Quere is light and ridiculous prepared for the gulling of light and ridiculous men altogether beneath the weight and depth which is in Mr. Bax. and which he useth when he deals with men like himself solid and serious at least in naturall and morall knowledg such is that which he hath p. 327. B. They all trust Christ for the saving of their souls c. Are all these justified why not there wants a Morall and Theologicall sincerity why is that but because they take but halfe of Christ Not to speak here either of the prime piece of knowledg here taught wherein Morall and Theologicall sincerity i. e. Phylosophicall and Metaphysicall sincerity consists viz. in taking the whole and not the halfe of things Nor secondly of the mans fastidious scorn of Scripture-terms and his hunting after exotick words to dimm and stifle the purity and simplicity of the Gospel I shall come to the matter it selfe and here I demand of himself 1 Whether they which receive Christ crucified do not receive whole Christ Christ which by the eternall spirit offered himself without spot to God saith the Apostle Heb. 9. 14. What was there here wanting of whole Christ There was his divine nature the Eternall Spirit offering the humane nature himself offered and the same in
Quere It is his doctrine that teacheth a soul-cozening Faith a Faith made up of a fardle of works and rags of our own righteousness as in his larger definition of justifying Faith he hath described it CHAP. XIII Mr. Baxters calumnie that this doctrine doth harden the Papists in their Popery and give occasion to many learned Protestants to turn Papists answered HIS fifth Quere hath no shew of weight in it deserving an examination savouring more of the Spleen than of the judgment of the Author Nevertheless though it declares only the stomach and indignation of the man against the truth rather then any strength in his hand to hurt it yet because it is formed for the deceiving of the simple and unwary upon whom sounds oft times take no less impression than actuall strokes to prevent damage to such I shall examine whatsoever may seem materiall in it as I have the rest B. pa. 329. 5. Lastly Is not this excluding of sincere Obedience from Justification the great stumbling-block of Papists and that which hath had a great hand in turning many learned men from the true Protestant Religion to Popery That by obedience he meaneth all morall qualifications and works as they are vertues and works we have before learned from his own words so his meaning is that the Doctrine of Paul and the Churches which follow him viz. Justification by Faith and not by works is guilty of the damnable and pernicious evills which he here chargeth upon it These evills are two 1 It is the great stumbling-block of the Papists 2 It hath carried back many learned men from the Protestant Religion to Popery To both these I shall speak in order 1 Of its hardning the Papists in Popery Is it not the great stumbling-block to Papists saith Mr. Br. I answer 1 Was not Christ and that in this very point of justifying the ungodly by an imputed righteousness without any inherent righteousness of their own a stone of stumbling and a rock of offence to the Jewes as which they were so offended that to their eternall ruine they reject the Gospel and salvation of Christ unto this day Rom. 9. 32 33. 1 Cor. 1. 23. 1 Pet. 2. 8. What then must Christ be anathematized Nay but let the truth of Christ stand and man be the lyar the transgressor It is scandalum acceptum non datum an offence taken not given And blessed is he who soever shall not be offended in or at Christ Mat. 11. 6. Lu. 7. 23. But if any will be offended and dash the Lord Christ admonisheth him of the danger Whosoever shall fall on this stone shall be broken but on whomsoever it shall fall it will grind him to powder Mat. 21. 44. 2 And as sound a reason is it that our doctrine of Justification hinders the Papists from turning Protestants as was that of some Statists that complained against the Church of Geneva that they hindered the conversion of Papists in those parts by forbidding dancing and the like grave consideration by some great Politicians in England that the forbearing of Bull and Bear-baiting and other sports on the Lords day hardned the Papists of Lancashire in their Popery When Religion is made a meer piece of policy and to have in it at the best no more than a dress of dreggish formality or morality no marvail if such dirty and unspirituall means are made use of to spread it 3 But how deep doth this effect lurk in its cause so that only this one mans sagacity can smell it out That the Papists in the least things will not turn Protestants except we in the worst turn Papists For this Article of Justification is the greatest of all the questions controverted between us and the Papists All the rest not ingredients of or meerly relating to this may the Papists continue in if not of malice or wilfulnesse with a possibility of salvation They are but wood hay and stubble built upon the foundation the very builders whereof may be saved but so as by fire saith the Apostle But a Trentified Papist by the coherent judgment of the best Divines cannot be saved because hee holdeth not the foundation sure and pure but mixeth mans works with the grace of God in Christ to Justification And their judgment is grounded upon the authority of the Apostle Yee are faln from grace Christ is become void or forfeyted to you whosoever are justified by works An ardent love to Romes shavelings out of doubt possesseth Mr. Br. that he doth not only wish himself as did the Apostle but would make himself and all us accursed that they might be not saved but damned with us For if they reject all other their errors and practically retain but this one by it they forfeyt all the salvation of the Gospel 4 Nay contrariwise as long as this Article of the Gospel was diligently preached and stoutly maintained in the Protestant Churches and that not with quiâ—ks and quidities of humane Art but by the nervous arguments of Scripture alone so long the Kingdom of Antichrist more and more decayed and they which were before marked up as slaves to that rivall of Christ brake the fetters and came in by thousands and ten thousands taking the Kingdom by a holy and violent force But since the time this Doctrine hath been less preached and patronized the Reformed Churches have been still in a languishing and the Antichristian Kingdom in a growing condition as Mr. Br. himself so great a Reader and so fully acquainted with the Ecclesiasticall Histories must necessarily grant And why hath this stop to the promoting of the Gospel befaln the Churches but that the Lord Christ doth herein declare his offence taken against us for not making him our all that hee also ceaseth so victoriously as in former times to vouchsafe his presence among us 5 But since Mr. Br. is leapt home to them and many foot beyond many of the more moderate sort of them in the point of justification by works and so hath removed the slumbling-block let him speak by experience how many of them are come in to him to be his Proselytes rejecting the Papacy and other their Popish errors Or whereas his Friends the Arminians have in this and many other of their Tenents so many decads of yeers closed fully with them where is the confluence of Papists to them seen that shaking off their former opinions and practices profess themselves Converts A Cardinals Hat perhaps hath been sent or a fat Bishopprick promised to some of the most deserving men among them in relation to the Romish Cause to allure them to further and higher deservings of this kind But the holy Mother Church I warrant you sticks where she was If shee should permit but one stone of her Fabrick to be loosed it might cause a crack in the whole This part of the Quere I shall therefore upon these Considerations leave as reasonless and examine the next whether there be any more reason in it
times aboundeth envied because they could not match and sought to defame because they envied the excellent parts of these two Worthies was either of them so wise and learned as to run headlong from Christ to Rome upon it Nay this is a piece of learning which Mr. B. his Grotius have of very late yeers learned and taught The true servants of Christ in former times were so little scholasticall that they were ignorant in this Art Yet whether Melancton after the death of Luther gave not some occasion to the Protestant Churches to mourn till this day for the yet remaining fruits of his timorousness or as Mr. Br. will have us call it moderation I leave to the wise who are acquainted with the passage of those times to judg But I never understood any such thing imputed to Bucer or that he hath left any other but a sweet savour behind him Nor any thing that can so dim the worth of Melancton that his name should not be in continuall veneration among the Saints For who can say he is without his infirmities But in the point of Justification by Faith only he was sound till death 4 But what hee saith of the Antimonian Teachers what they preach at present and yet are magnified for the only preachers of Free Grace is that which startles Mr. Br. and makes him run many furlongs beyond Grotius If his hast had not put him out of breath he might have told us what places of England are haunted with these Spirits that we might have shunned them Why should a man of such animosity that scorns to look upon Colier Hobson Spriggs and such like fellows be so troubled about these unconsiderate animals which he here mentioneth what the former three are I do not know yet by what I have heard of them I should think them not so inconsiderate as these to affirm justifying faith to consist in a mans believing that he is justified or in a perswasion that God loveth him But that there are either more than one fountaine opened for the purging away of sinne or any other propitiation for our sins set forth by God Besides Christ alone or any other means to effectuallize it to the chief sinners besidâ—s faith in his blood or that the justification which is by Faith iâ— according to the tenor of the Gospel revocable I am so far an Antinomian of Mr. B. defining to deny and cannot find him so learned a Papist or Pharisee to prove it There is nothing else which I see in this Quere which he hath not in substance said and so hath been examined before or else will more properly offer it self to examination in that which remaineth to be examined And this shall suffice to have said to that one and yet five-fold Argument comprehended in his five Quere's CHAP. XIV Mr. Baxters last Argument drawn from the Testimony of many approved Authors Examined and Answered HIs last Argument is drawn from the testimony and authority of many eminent Divines in the Protestant Churches which he saith have taught and published this doctrine before him This Argument is principally urged not in the Aphorisms but the Appendix And although Mr. Br. tell us App. p. 111. that he alleageth them not to confirm his doctrine but to shew that he is not singular but hath the concurrent judgments of others therein And App. p. 167. 188. that he doth it to satisfie them which charge him with singularity not as an appeal to man Yet it is too evident that his purpose herein is to abuse the less knowing and considering part of his Readers with this more then with the most of his other Arguments Great names he knowes doe make deep impressions upon the fancies of men that have much of affection but little of judgment And that these look not so much to the matter as to the men Could they think Mr. Br. hath here said no more then these and these confessedly pious and learned Worthies have said before him they will take him for a blasphemer that shall say against him Therefore he musters together so many choyce vessels and pretious servants of Christ trusting to the either imbecility or credulity of his vulgar Readers that either they cannot or will not examin and compare these and Mr. B. together and then Mr. Br shall be taken to be of the same spirit with Dr. Preston Dr. Twisse Calvin Pareus Perkins and the other renowned Divines whom he alleageth and then also it must be all truth that he hath said after such men and whosoever shall oppose him must be brought forth to be stoned But where is the mans sincerity that will be justified by the morall sincerity of his obedience and works Was it not wholly banished from him when he cited these men as concurring in judgment with him when he knowes them all to detest his assertions against which we except more then death it self and that many of them have jeoparded and some of them laid down their lives and blood to give testimony to the contrary Assertions Or will Mr. B. name any one of these at whose judgment his doctrine shall stand or fall as true or erroneous Why doth he thus abuse the simple thereby discovering his impudent fallaciousness to the intelligent with whom elswhere he seeks chiefly to ingratiat himself But come we to the Testimonies which he alleageth Bax. 1 Mr. Wallis Faith is an accepting of Christ offered rather then a beleeving of a Proposition affirmed App. p. 111. Who hath denied this Or what is this to Justification by works It may possibly be something to the Question not considerately there proposed but nothing at all listing with that conclusion to which all the rest which he delivers are but preparatives Next to Mr. Wallis he alledgeth Dr. Preston at the end of the same page The six first Positions wherein he affirms him to speak the same thing with himself I see no sound reason why any should except against But if Mr. B. or Dr. Preston or Paul or an Angel from heaven shall deduce erratick and erroneous Conclusions from those Premisses they are not to be heard but resisted at the face None of the worst Hereticks but agree in some principles with the most Orthodox yet this nothing hinders but that the assertions in which they dissent may be altogether pernicious How far and how unanimously all the Protestant Churches maintain the seventh point wherein Mr. B. affirms this pious and learned Doctor to agree with him hath been before fully expressed in the examination of the fourth Argument So that it is useless here to run over so many passages of the Author from p. 112. to p. 117. of the Appendix to declare that this one man saith what all the rest say and hold with him viz. That justifying Faith is an accepting of Christ as Lord and Saviour But what is this to the substance of the question to which Mr. B. answereth Where it is objected to Mr. Br
Qu. 14. that he so layeth this position that he may thereby lay a ground-work for Justification by works Doth Dr. Preston to this end make Christ as Lord the object of Justifying Faith or any where affirm him to be offered as a Law-giver or Commander of morall works and duties to our justifying Much less doth he affirm that such works have any thing to do with Faith in justifying A notable skill hath Mr. Br in confounding when he should divide and distinguish and in distinguishing when there is no need as either may serve to his purpose He knowes that Dr. Preston when he treats of the New Covenant comprehends under it the whole doctrine and all the Promises of Grace made Yea and Amen in Christ as the same Christ is given to us not onely to Justification but also to regeneration illumination sanctification and whatsoever the Grace of the Eternall Father hath made him to us And when he treats of Faith he handles it as the instrument by which not onely Justification but also all the other benefits of Christ may be made ours in receiving Christ the treasury spring of all appropriated to us Therefore in describing the New Covenant he describes it in generall as the womb of all the blessings which are attainable by Christ and not of Justification and Salvation alone And in describing Faith he describes it as the instrument by which we apprehend and appropriate to our selves not onely Christ as righteousness and salvation but also as wisedome and sanctification yea all that tends to the perfecting of a poor sinner to our selves Therefore is it that he speaks more largely of the Covenant and treats more fully of it then needed if he had been to speak of it onely to Justification and Blessedness and that he speaks of Faith more largely and mentioneth other acts of it then are required to this one end And necessarily must he so do else should he have maimed both the Covenant of Grace and the Faith of Christ Here whatsoever Dr. Preston speaketh of the Covenant and Faith in generall of which some part belongeth to the interessing of us to sanctification and other blessings which are by Christ Mr. Br to beguile his Reader confoundeth and confineth to Justification as being spoken of it alone When contrariwise the Doctor doth enough cleerly express the distinct benefits of the Covenant and the distinct acts of Faith receiving the distinct benefits in the very words which he alledgeth out of him App. p. 117. Thou shalt receive the gift of Righteousness wrought by him for an absolution for thy sins and for a reconciliation with me This is our Justification And thereupon thou shalt grow up in love and obedience towards me This is our sanctification But suppose he should have affirmed that Faith as it cleaveth to Christ not onely for the sprinkling of his blood for Justification but withall for the effusion of his spirit to sanctification and the shedding forth of his beams for illumination and the stretching forth of his Almighty arm for supportation c. doth in all these acts justifie as some Divines do seem to speak though without prejudice to their reputation not enough advisedly yet both he and they are so far from making either the most spiritual knowledge and wisedom which are the immediate fruits of illumination or love righteousnes and holines and their acts or works which are the immediate fruits of sanctification to be in any respect usefull to justification that they utterly deny peace joy and hope the immediate fruits of Justification to be any way effectuall and usefull in this business But I find not Dr. Preston any where laying that ground-work much less erecting such a building on it To the five last points if Mr. Br hold them in that which I have expressed to be Dr. Prestons sense yea which himself expresseth to be his own sense I have nothing to say against him The tenth onely excepted to which I must be also mute because neither doth Mr. Br alledg what the Doctor saith and I have not that Treatise of his to inform me But all this is but a playing with holy things he might as well have said Dr. Preston consents with him in confessing there is a God a Christ a Justification a man a sinner to be justified as have said most of what he hath here said We expected he should have produced testimonies of other Divines speaking in common with him what he speaks in common with the Papists in opposition to the doctrine of the Protestants In his Appendix p. 167. and thenceforth to the end of the Book he brings a new supply of Testimonies which he intituleth Bax. Sayings of excellent Divines added to satisfie you who charge me with singularity I shall examine so many of them as have any shew of agreement with Mr. Br in those things wherein he fights against the doctrine of the Protestant Churches Bax. 1 He alleadgeth Dr. Twisse his discovery of Dr. Jacksons vanity p. 528. What one of our Church will maintaine that any one obteins actuall Redemption by Christ without Faith esspecially considering that redemption by the blood of Christ and forgivenesse of sins are all one Eph. 1. 17. Col. 1. 14. How prettily would he here instill into the thought of his Reader that Dr. Twisse is a man of levity here a subverter of Antinomianism whereof in his Aphorisms p. 173. he complained him to be a Pillarer that here he subverteth Justification from eternity whereof elswhere he is an assertor Nay here he speaketh of the Justification which is by vertue of the New Covenant of the obteining of it actually to our selves This neither Papist nor Protestant neither Dr. Twisse noâ— Mr. Br ever affirmed to be without Faith Bax. 2. Bishop Hooper cited by Dr. Jackson Christ onely received our infirmities and originall disease and not the contempt of him and his Law Expounded by Dr. Twisse against Dr. Jackson p. 584. His meaning in my judgment is onely this that Christ hath made satisfaction for the imperfection of our faith and holiness although we continue therein untill death But he hath not made satisfaction for the contempts and hatred of his word c. in case men do continue therein unto death Here is nothing of that which Mr. B. hunts after that Christ hath satisfied for no offence no infirmity committed against the New Covenant but this alone is the sum of it that they shall have no benefit by Christ no one sin committed against the Law or Gospel pardoned to them who live and dye impenitent and unbelievers According to that of our Saviour Jo. 8. 24. Therefore I said unto you ye shall dye in your sins for if ye beleeve not that I am he ye shall dye in your sins B. 3 Alstedius Distinct Theol. cap. 17. p. 73. The Condition of the Covenant of Grace is partly Faith partly Evangelicall obedience or holiness of life proceeding from Faith in Christ 1 In
mean the justification of the New Covenant not the justification immanent in God or that which Mr. B. calleth Christs own justification as the publick person Aph. p. 195. 5 They utterly deny morall obedience and good works to be in any other sense a condition of justification but as it is a consequent thereof to evidence it Mr. B. indeed as if he had not enough injured Mr. Burges by making him in some kind a Patron of his Whimsies in prefixing his name to this his Book Dedicating it to him as above others an eminent Fautor of such doctrines would willingly here also draw him quasi obtorto collo to be the Founder of this his Jesuiticall error as he makes him out App. p. 187 188. But I have before shew'd that the preaching of repentance and the preaching of Faith for the remission of sins are in Gospel language one and the same thing If Mr. Burges mean otherwise but so as law confident of the contrary I should put no difference in the authority of Mr. Br and Mr. Burgess in this assertion The same force he useth to draw Dr. Willet to be of his part p. 180 181. where indeed in one clause the Doctor seems to me to have verified that proverb Quandoque bonus dormitat Homerus yet without giving thereby any advantage to Mr. B. yea he speaks directly opposit to him 6 They deny all causality of good works to salvation 7 Much more a concausality in the same kind with Faith and the satisfaction of Christ 8 Most of all that they in any rationall sense merit it 9 Or that as they make up the inherent righteousness of man to be a Collaterall with the sacrifice of or righteousness which is by Christ to Salvation so that we are saved by works for works as by Christ and for Christ All this dirt they leave to Mr. B. to lick off from the nailes of the Iesuits bidding defiance against it as a Cursed doctrine What they understand then of works as a condition of Salvation is in this comprized that to salvation already attained they have the relation of an adjunct consequent and effect But to the salvation hereafter to be attained the relation of an Adjunct antecedent and disponent as also of an Argument confirming the hope and assurance thereof They express themselves usually in the phrase of that Father though possibly misunderstood by some Via regni sunt non causa regnandi which some do all should thus construe not that they are the way to the Kingdom above Christ alone being this way but they are the way of the Saints which are Christs spirituall Kingdom according to that of the Apostle We are saved not by works for c. God hath ordained us to walk in them Eph. 2. 8-10 in the way of sanctification are they to be found not in the wayes of iniquity and prophanness who are inrighted by Christ to salvation Let now the vast difference and contrariety in so many particulars between M. Brs. and these Divines opinions about this Question be considered and then let it be judged whether Mr. Br. had not taken his leave of all bashfulness when he would impose on his Readers an opinion that he delivers upon this Argument nothing but what they had taught before him 2 The Testimonies which he cites from Calvin p. 175. Perkins p. 177. do only affirm that the inherent righteousnes of sanctification doth sometimes give the name of righteous persons to beleevers in the Scriptures and this none denyeth But here is no mention made that we are termed rightâ—â—us from the righteousness of our own works as or because they are the condition of our justification which is Mr. Br. Tenet Calvin indeed rightly ascribes it to the imputed righteousnes of Christ from which originally and radically our own unperfect righteousnes is owned of God and our selves righteous in doing it But in no wise affirmeth that this our unperfect righteousnes hath any finger in the procuration of Christs righteousness to be imputed to us But consequentially given a flat denyall of it which is the thing questioned in Mr. B. As for Mr. Perkins he hath in the place alledged nothing relating to the question So that he doth an unexpiable wrong to the name of these famous men to father them with this his error 3 That which he citeth from Perkins p. 176. 178. and from Zanchy p. 179. from Dr. Davenant p. 181. Molinaeus Scharpius and Pareus p. 185. and Mr. Burgess p. 186. are nihil ad rem Nothing to the doctrines of Mr. Br that are questioned and charged as Popish c. He commits a Paralogism in detorting them into his opinions from which they are abhorrent It is a meer ignoratio Elenchi to bring these writers as concluding with him contradictorily to our Conclusions who say nothing against us or for him As those of Scharpius and Pareus p. 185. where he makes thâ— wherein they affirm the substance of the New Covenant in generall to consist to speak for him in contradiction to what we conclude of Justification that is but one speciall part of that Covenant as if all that is affirmed or denyed of the former are so also of the latter The falshood whereof I have before manifested Although Mr. Burgess in his Testimony alledged p. 186. speaks more against Mr. Br then for him yet I make not his Conclusion a part of my Creed as being too peremptory and boldly fettering the hands of Gods grace to Lawes which God hath not imposed upon himself viz. That Remission of sins is given us onely in the use of those Graces which he had before named Had he said ordinarily or mostly in steed of onely I should not have excepted against him But I take him to be so pious and learned that upon a review he will relax and dispense with his onely as not bottomed on the Scriptures there alledged or any other The like may be said to the like speech of Molinaeus p. 185. if he mean so universally as Mr. Burgess speaketh But perhaps neither of them by remission of sins mean Justification but a quid distinctum from it if so then they speak nothing to Mr. Brs purpose The other fore-cited Testimonies out of Perkins and Zanchy labour of the same fallacy having nothing against us in those points in which Mr. Br. professeth himself an adversary to us 4 But it seems he most triumpheth in the testimony of Mr. Ball. Him he magnifieth and exalteth with suparletive praises more then all the great Theologers whom he alledgeth before and after him as if all the rest were but Sycamores to this Cedar This great leaaned and holy Divine as almost England ever bred and why so super excellent for â—ooth he goes on in Grotius that Cassandrian Papist his own words translated And which is there of the Dâ—vines which England hath bred that can be praised for so illustrious an act besides Mr. Br. and him I envy not the
the one perfect and the other Contarenus Card. in Tractat. de Justif unperfect as to justification but the inherent perfect in its kinde as well as the imputed so that both in their kinds of causality are to be rested on as things sure to support us to justification before God and we are as truly justified by and for the inherent as the imputed righteousnesse if the righteousnesse which is in Christ meriteth a possibility of the justification of a sinner before God he must by his inherent and actuall righteousnesse merit the actuall application of Christs righteousnesse and justification by it else he cannot be justified Mr. Br cannot deny every particle of this doctrine to be his own in words at length that hath been already manifested in those former these latter quotations The inherent righteousnesse is absolutely necessary to salvation Aph. Medina in 1. 2. Qu. 110. â— 2 4. Thes 17. Otherwise justification from eternity also would peep in and then Actum est c. And if absolutely necessary how can God justifie without it Manum a tabula this is enough to wipe out Bellarmine from Mr. Brs Kalender of Saints A whole ile of Salt is too little to season Bell. de Justif lib. 1. cap. 16. this passage It overthrowes the great Goddesse Condition so pretious to Mr. Br. and erects that Image of Iealousie in its place justification an immanent act in God For if God may justifie where there is no infused righteousnesse where then is the condition Then is the justification in God and not termined on the Conscience of the justified but Bellarmine hath his time to deny it again els Actum esset de Amicitia Except apparent violence be used Caâ—etan on Iames. with this Chapter c. iâ— cannot be doubted but that a man is justified by works and not by Faith onely Thes 75. James saith that Faith is dead being alone because it is dead to the use and purpose of justifying For in it self it hath a life according to its quality still c. And so works make Faith alive as to the attainment of Cajetan â—bidem its end justification Works therefore justifie not onely proving our Faith to be sound but themselves being in the obligation as well as Faith and in the same kind of causality and procurement with Faith Salmero on cap. 2. Iac. though not in equality with it which I prove thus When it is said we are justified by works the word by implyeth more then an idle concomitancy c. as I have before alledged him p. 229 230. Mr. B. makes the promise of God an obligation by which God is bound to man so that man may challenge God for debt pronouncing the performers worthy their performances Fryar Ferur on Mat. 20. 1. merit Yea scarce admits of any one drop of Gods blessings to discend upon the good or bad which he ascribes not to some kind of mans merits Aph. p. 137-141 Mr. B. contrariwise ascribes all the meritorious vertue of mans works to their own righteousnes leaving man so long naked of the righteousnes which is by Christ untill he hath by his own strong indeavours merited it so that according to his doctrine the application of Christs merits to any is the fruit of that mans merits and not the mans merits the fruit of Christs merits this is cleer from the former allegations M. Br. interprets it the contrary way Aph. p. 236. as the understanding Reader will easily perceive Let all judge that have but a mite of reason whether Soarez Bishop on the place this man hath any awe of the Scripture which so abuseth it yet cries out upon others as faulty To use his own words he may as well make a Creed of his own whatsoever the word saith to the contrary There is no such opposition Justification is from the ordinate Salmero disp 35. ad Rom. justice of God and the fruit of the merit of our righteousnes yet a free gift of free grace nevertheless So he declares his judgment in the fore-cited places Mr. Br. directly teacheth the contrary doctrine throughout Dominicus a Soto in Rom. 4. his Book every where solving the absurdity of his doctrine by his conditions Nay he hath not so saved freed us from the punishment and curse but that they that are in Christ must bear it both Soto Salmero Aquinas â— upon Ro 8. 1. in soul and body As his alledged words before declare Mr. B. asserts the contrary doctrine and propugneth it with ten Arguments which Vasquez in 3. ThoÌ„ disp 156. cap. 3. de paenalitatibus have been examined in the first part of this Tractate Nay the beleevers sins tho pardoned yet are but conditionally pardoned so that they Anselm are still in Gods remembrance to inflict the curse and punishment of the Law upon them as the curse in life and death giving them no full discharge till the day of judgment The place hath been cited before So to repose our confidence Bellarmine on sole mercy and grace is a soul-cozening Faith Aph. p. 326. He must be undoubtedly damned that doth not work and obey to be justified and saved by and for his obedience and works ibid. p. 325. compared with p. 300. 320. Let now not only Schollars to whom Mr Br appealeth to judg of his freedom from Popery but with them all rationall and conscientious men give their verdict whether he be not so cleer as Pilate when he had washed his hands was from the blood of Christ and whether the better Divinity come from Rome or from Kederminster CHAP. XVIII Whether Mr. Baxters Plea here be of sufficiency to prove his Doctrine free from Socinianism THe second aspersion of infamy from which he endeavours to vindicate his doctrine is Socinianism This hee goeth about to do in these words Bax. p. 306. But what difference is there betwixt it and the Socinian doctrine of Justification Answ In some mens mouths Socinianism is but a word of reproach or a stone to throw at the head of any man that saith not as they Mr. Wotton is a Socinian and Mr. Bradshaw and Mr. Gataker and Mr. Goodwin and why not Piscator Pareus c. if some zealous Divines know what Socinianism is But I had rather study what is Scripture-truth than what is Socinianism I do not thinke that Faustus was so infaustus as to hold nothing true That which he held according to Scripture is not Socinianism For my part I have read little of their writings but that little gave me enough and made me cast them away with abhorrence In a word The Socinians acknowledg not that Christ had satisfied the Law for us consequently is none of our legall righteousness but only hath set us a Copie to write after and is become our pattern and that we are justified by following him as a Captain and guide to heaven and so all our proper
Righteousness is in this Obedience Most accursed Doctrine so far am I from this that I say The Righteousness which we must plead against the Laws Accusation is not one grain of it in our Faith or Works but all out of us in Christs satisfaction Only our Faith Repentance and sincere Obedience are the conditions upon which wee must partake of the former And yet such conditions as Christ worketh in us frely by his Spirit How forcible and unresistible is the power of Conscience flying in the face of the guilty and accusing where men applaud or at least hold their peace Who either of men or Angels could have charged Mr. Br. for saying that which he had not yet said or for venting Socinian Doctrine in his writings before he had yet written What none els can do M. Br. is forced by Conscience to do against himself to arraign himself at the Bar for Socinianism Conscience is the accuser what Patron will he retein to be his defender Nothing out of himself can suffice to answer an accuser within himself Therefore he fees Reason that is his sophisticated and sopisticall wit art and craft to plead his Cause against Conscience The first of these exceptions which these make for him against the Charge is the abuse which some make of this imputation laying it upon all that speak not as they But 1. This is besides the Charge These some had not then spoken against Mr. Br. it is the accusation of his own conscience which he should have answered and he hnows it not to have confederated with those some of whom he speaketh 2. I know none of those some that have layd that aspersion upon any of those Divines which he mentioneth save one and that one I suppose would be very angry with any other man in England M. Br. alone excepted that should go about to rob him of that honour which Mr. Br. calls a reproach It is for brotherhoodssake that he hears it from him 3. But his craft herein is to befool his Readers with an opinion that he is of the same judgment with Pareus Wotton Gataker c. of whom they that are dead have as much shewed their abhorrency from and opposition against his Doctrines as any that have lived upon earth And those that are living if they be consistent with themselves in their former writings whereof I nothing doubt are as far from Mr Br. as he is from Christ and his truth 4. His jeer that he casteth upon them that are Adversaries to his Doctrine terming them Zealous Divines infinuating that they have zeale without knowledg and learning I leave as proper to him that in that way of wisdom and righteousness which his own reason either as refined with Philosophy or corrupted with Sophistry suggesteth seeks for justification and eternall glory Let us be accounted fools to the world and no bodies in that which is falsly called science so that we may be wise in and zealous for that which is the power and wisedom of God to salvation The second Plea which he makes for himself is the singlenes and sincerity of his studies bent rather to seek out what is Scripture truth than what is Socinianism that he thinks that Socinus his Nature Studies and Attainments did not so much vary from his name Faustus the happy that he should be so unhappy as to hold nothing true and consequently that neither himself is so unhappy but that he hath learned some Truths from this happy Socinus and perhaps such as he could never learn from Christ his Apostles or faithfull Ministers But 1. This may be said of Faustus the Conjurer who by giving himself to the Devill did not exterminate all notions of all truths from his soul Will Mr Br. be his Disciple also Both had the like effectuall influence from Satan neither know I which to prefer 2. Who sent Mr. Br. to learn from such Teachers to seek for light in darkness or Heaven in Hell or Scripture-Truth in the precept of Pagans or glosses of Papists or Socinus his God Reason Is it not because there is no God in Israel that he goes to enquire of Baal-zebab the God of Ekron 2 King 1. 3. The Lord Jesus rebuketh silenceth and refuseth to hear the Spirit of lies even when hee speaks truth Mar. 1. 23 24 25. and abandoneth the spirituall Devil no less than if he had blasphemed Mat. 4. So also Paul Acts 16. 16-18 The truth of Christ needs not any disdains all props from Hell to sustain it He that will not dip from the fountain but at the pools which the unclean beasts have defiled let him without our envy have mudd and dung enough in the water which he drinketh 3. It is much to be doubted the mans heart deceives him Were his studie so unfeigned and serious to know what is Scripture truth he would more study the Scripture it self and less Bellarmin Socinus Arminius and such like Sophisters whose whole study it is to corrupt all and to leave no Scripture unperverted 4. Had he not ploughed with Socinus his Heyfers or rather Bulls he could never have sowed so much darnell in the field of Christ The third Plea which he bringeth to prove that his Doctrine is free from Socinianism is because there is one point wherein hee dissenteth from Secinus That Socinus and his followers deny any expiatory sacrifice that Christ hath offred to God to satisfie his Justice for our sins or that ther is any effectual vertue in Christs death to purge our Consciences from dead works But that he becomes our Saviour only in this that he hath given us more perfect precepts of Righteousness than were contained in the Law and the Prophets and withall he hath given us a Copie or pattern by his own practice to which we must be conformed And so we must be justified not by the blood of Christ but by our own obedience in following these precepts and this pattern which he hath given us In this point Mr. Br. professeth himself so farr from joyning with him that hee casteth off this Doctrine with abhorrence But this reasoning hath no soundness in it For 1 It is the same as if I should argue that Goliah was not of the race of the Giants because he had not upon each hand six fingers and upon each foot six toes at some of the Giants progeny had and possibly the Giant himself Or that Mr. Br. should seek by this Argument to prove himself no English-man because he dwels neerer the Severn than Thames So also might the Jews elude the words of Christ and Elymas the words of Paul as slanderous arguing themselves not to be the children of the Devill because they had flesh and bone so had not the Devill They had never carried Christ aloft and set him on a pinacle of the Temple fearing they might fall headlong thence themselves so had the Devill The seed the Lusts of the Devil abiding and reigning in them spake them
an opinion that he and the Papists his Masters have the whole body of the Scriptures on their side to prove Justification by works But that the Protestants can only catch here and there a sentence of Scripture that hath a seeming and scarce a seeming to speak for them It is a Maxime of Mr. Br. himself that men are seldom bold with Scripture to force it but they are first bold with Conscience to force it pag. 297. Yet here he is bold not only to force but to stifle Scriptures When himself quoteth a Scripture to maintain his Popish Justification see how he improves it in the same page If it were but some one phrase dissonant from the ordinary language of Scripture I should not doubt but it were to be reduced to the rest But when it is the very scope of a Chapter c. no whiâ— dissonant from any other Scripture I think he that may so wrest it as to make it unsay what it saith may as well make him a Creed of his own let the Scripture say what it will to the contrary Lo what a mountain he can make of a mole-hill and bring all Scriptures into the belly of one making that one of what dimension he listeth all the rest to say what he commands them when he is to plead for the Papists But here when he is â—o produce what the Protestants have to urge against the Papists what mincing and mayming doth he use forcing the whole body of the Gospel into a Cherristone it is but here and there a sound without substance that they beguile themselves with Did the man as he pretends seek to apprehend to himself and sincerely to make out unto others Scripture Tâ—uâ—h we should find him faithfully alledging what the Churches of Christ have cited against Antichrist His false dealing herein declares his hatred of the Truth that he will not have the Scriptures shine upon it in their full splendor that it may not be known and embraced Nay we have the main body of the New Testament speaking for us specially almost all the Doctrinal part of the Epistles to the Romans Galathians Ephesians Colossions Hebrews all the four Evangelists specially St John as I have before shewed A breviate of Scriptures which our Divines have urged to this purpose I have before given and it would be useless here to rehearse 3. Even these few Scriptures which he quoteth affirm that man is justified by Faith without the deeds of the Law that if he were justified by Works he had whereof to glory and boast himself that if they which are of the Law be heirs Faith is made void and the promise of no effect That it is of Faith that it may be of Grace that it is by Grace through Faith not of Works Were there nothing else is there not a strong appearance of Contradiction in these Scriptures to Mr. Brs. doctrine that we are justified by Faith and Works together 4 But see we how he evades these Scriptures and all other Testimonies of the Apostles viz. That his dispute is what is the Righteousness which we must plead against the Accusation of the Law or by which we are justified as the proper Righteousness of the Law and this hee well concludeth is neither works nor faith but the Righteousness which is by Faith i. e. Christs Righteousness But St. James his question is what is the condition of our Justification by this Righteousness of Christ whether Faith only or Works also so farr Mr. Baxter Must not Mr. Br. needs be happy that hath learned so perfectly that which he cals else-where the Papists Feat of making the Scriptures a nose of wax and turning them into his own complexion Let any one now alledg against him that of the Apostle Gal. 1. 8. If Paul or an Angell from heaven shall preach to you any other Gospel than what you have received let him be accursed Cannot he as prettily and solidly shift the Curse from him and retort it upon the denouncer as he doth these Scriptures upon the alledgers True may hee say but I am not Paul nor an Angell from heaven therefore the Curse cannot fall on me Nay I have made Paul to preach another Gospel since his death thatn what he preached in his life Therefore Paul is accursed As good grounds hath he for this as his former arguing But let us see whether his interpretation of these Scriptures be so solid as pretty To that of James I have spoken before therefore shall say little here Onely I cannot omit how unsufferable his audacious confidence is that he thinks it enough to say without shewing or endeavouring to shew it from the Context or otherwise this is the meaning of Pauls and that the scope of James his dispute No such immodesty is oft there to be found in the very Jesuits Socinians and Arminians They when they go about to pervert in stead of expounding any Scripture labour stoutly from the Context and from a seeming Coherence of other Scriptures to make such a perverting exposition either probable or plausible This man doth all pro Imperio Sic volo sic jubeo c. I say it what man or Angell dares to deny it Doth hee think all the world to be his Diocess that he may force what he hath or saith he hath upon his Kederminsterians upon the consciences of all men an implicit Faith that all must believe when and because he saith it Is the infallible spirit gone out of Zedechiah 1 King 22. 24. or out of Bellarmine or Arminius inâ—o him Or doth he execute the office of the Popes Legate speaking to us only that which is decreed in his unerring Chair or hath hee gotten a monopoly of Socinus his Right Reason which is infallible what else can hee alledg that his word must be taken for a Law without dispute Or is it indeed because he finds Gods word will yeeld him no succour therefore he must proprio Marte militare act in his own name because God is not with him So indeed it seemeth for neither God nor reason nor any thing els but a high conceit of himself will be accessary to his reasonless Conclusions viz. that James his question is what is the condition of our Justification by Christs Righteousness when James in his whole dispute there neither expresly nor implyedly utters a word of Christs righteousness or if Mr. Brs Jesuito-Arminian condition nor any thing that can easily be reduced to Christ himself Or where doth Paul dispute only of the righteousnes proper to justification and not also of the way and means by which this righteousness may be applyed to us and made ours Or in which of his quoted Scriptures or any other of the Apostles writings when he excludes works doth he exclude Faith also from its subserviency to justifying Such peremptory dreams of a haughty brain cannot be more fitly answered than with contempt and â—ilence Thus should I do were it not in respect to some
pious and not unlearned men that have taken some infection of the Epidemicall disease of our times too easily to drink down errors differing herein only from the vulgar that error is more appetible to them from a learned and sophisticall than truth from a plainer though faithfull hand Let a man once have the name of a learnnd Scholar and strict-walking Pharisee all his Doctrines by such men are concluded to be of rare use and excellency before they be seen whether they be white or black from Heaven or from Hell Not a few of these men having in my hearing stood firm and up moved in the defence of the doctrines of this book of Mr. Brs. not being able to speak any thing to refell the objections made against it but this that the Author thereof is an eminently learned and pious man As if Satan had not the wit to make choyse of his instruments that have the most compleat aptitude and power to deceive or that the Jews had not so much to say for their Pharisees the Papists for their Bellarmine and the Remoâ—strants for their Arminius or the Devill had forgotten his ancient subtlety when he will seduce from the verity of Christs Gospel to change himself into an Angell of Light or that no damning errour could proceed from a self-saving or rather self-deceiving Pharisee To cleer up the truth to such at lest to give their occasion to search the Scriptures by which they may cleer it to themselves I shall lay and compare together Paul and Mr. Br. in that which Mr. Br. saith was the question about which Paul disputed that it may be made evident whether they agree or contradict either the other To this purpose by the way there is to be taken out of the way a fallacy that lurketh in Mr. Brs. words where he saith The dispute of St. Paul is upon this Question It is not enough to say this was A Question excâ—pt he say also it was the Question yea the Onely Question upon which the Apostle disputed in those places where he excludeth works and inferreth Faith alone to be ordeined as effectuall to justification He disputed in some of his Epistles upon many questions To reduce what hee disputed severally to the severall questions all to one were to make non-sense of the whole The same may be said of all mens yea of the most Scholastick disputes of Mr. Br. himself who is a greater Philosopher and more studied in Logick and Metaphysicks than ever the Apostle was But I deny it to be the onely or the chief question about which St. Paâ—l so disputeth what is the Righteousnesse which wee must plead against the Accusation of the Law or by which wee are justified as the proper Righteousness of the Law I grant it to be one but a less principall question upon which he disputes But the more principall question is in generall by what means we may be interessed into Christ or obtain the righteousness of Christ to become ours and so still retâ—in it to justification More particularly whether the Native Faederall holiness of the Jewes and the priviledges of the Covenant in part mentioned Rom. 9. 4 5. Phil. 3. 5. Gal. 2. 15. Or their actuall and personall righteousnesse and sincere obedience to the Law mentioned Phil. 3. 6. Mat. 20. 12. and the 19 20. together with all the Typicall purgings mentioned in the 9. 10. Chapters of the Epistle to the Hebrews On the other side whether all the Naturall and Morall righteousness of the Gentiles which they performed by the instinct of the Law of Nature written in their Consciences without the help or knowledg of Gods written law or their exemption from the Covenant of God made with the Jews For some of the believing Gentiles reading the promises made of calling unto the grace of Christ them that were not Gods people or beloved before weakly concluded that their former uncircumcision and uncovenant-ship was a speciall furtherance to their admission unto Christ as may be probably gathered from Rom. 11. 19. Gal. 5. 6. whether any of these kinds of holinesse and works of righteousness either with Faith or without Faith or whether Faith alone without all or any of these be required as instrumentall subservient and effectuall to inright us to the Justification which is by Christ This was the more principall question upon which Paul disputeth in the places before mentioned Somewhat he saith to the former but lesse principally and seldom but in subserviency to this So the question upon which Paul disputes in his Epistles and Mr. Br. in his Aphorisms is one and the same but their Conclusions absolutely contradictory either to other The one concludeth that Faith alone without mans works and righteousness The other that not faith alone but Faith as a work together with all other works of righteousnesse do justifie and all morall duties collaterally with Faith are required to make the Righteousness of Christ ours to justification No greater or more palpable Contradiction can be devised Whosoever shall preach another Gospell of Justification otherwise than by Faith in Christ without works let him be accursed saith Paul Whosoever shall be practically a solifidian trust to a bare Faith and not work for Justification shall be Damned saith Mr. Br. If one of these be granted to be an Apostle of Christ the other must needs be proclaimed to be the Apostle of Antichrist But whether this which I have expressed be indeed the principal question on which the Apostle so disputeth adhuc sub judice lis est We are left uncertain on both hands may some say True and if I onely say and not shew it I shall be guilty of the fault which I blame in Mr. Br. And so we may deserve both to be laught at as Triflers This therefore is the next thing to be added First then if we do but consider to whom and against whom the Apostle handleth these disputes for Mr. Br. reduceth them all to his Epistles it will be more than probable to every rationall man that his most principall question is By what means we possesse and continue in the possession of the righteousnesse which is by Christ to Justification And but secondarily less principally and in subserviency to this question What the righteousnesse is by which we are to be justified The persons to whom he writeth were all Christians the purest and most eminent Churches of Christ that had received the pure doctrine of Christ by the preaching of the Apostles viz. that whereas sinn and death and the Curse by sinn reigned over all men in all the world so that all wete Children of wrath and every soul guilty before God Christ was given of the Father to be the Author of Righteousness and life by the Mediation of his death that in him and in no other name under heaven was salvation attainable that whosoever would beleeve in him should have everlasting life should be Justified freely by Grace
and touching the righteousness thereof were blameless When contrarwise the Gentiles had walked inordinately lawlesly after the instinct of their own nature and lusts of their own hearts servants to idols and devills not to God For this Cause they Contended that they by this their righteousness had that the Gentiles by means of their unrighteousness had not right to the redemption and Justification which are by Christ That the Gentiles in stead of the naturall holiness before mentioned must become Proselytes and so the ascititious or adopted Children of Abraham becoming Jewes must receive the seale of the Covenant Circumcision in their flesh receive and be brought under the Law and become personally righteous in keeping it Else they could not be saved by Christ Act. 15. 1 24. Their bare Faith in Christ without their own righteousness and works could not make them partakers of the tighteousnesse and salvation which are by Christ And who seeth not here that Mr. Brs doctrine is one and the same in generall with theirs that were the first heretical troublers and subverters of the Church of Christ But against this plea of the beleeving Jewes the Apostle layeth his Contradictory Conclusion That both the Circumcision and the uncircumcision they that had and they that had not all or any of these kinds of righteousness were made partakers of Justification through Christ onely by Faith in him That our own prejacent works and righteousness are nothing to further nor our former unrighteousness and sinn any thing to hinder our Justification but Faith in Christ is all He that beleeveth is not condemned he that beleeveth not is already condemned whether he be Jew or Gentile clean or unclean outwardly because as he had said before ver 22 23. There is no difference For all have sinned and come short of the glory of God This Conclusion that Faith alone without our prejacent or concomitant works and righteousness do make the righteousness which is by Christ ours to Justification he proveth soundly in the 4th Chapter 1 From the example of Abraham the Father of the Faithfull By what means Abraham found and obteined the Justification which is by Christ by the same means all now obteine it that are Justified But Abraham found or obteiaed it not by his own righteousness or works but by Faith Therefore so do now all that are justified The proposition he leaves as standing so firm on its own pillars that none will dare to seek the demolishing thereof The assumption he proves in both its members that it was not by his own righteousnes either Natural i. e. derived from parents and ancestors for they were Idolaters and served other Gods Josh 24. 2. Or faederall in the Jewes sense for he was justified before he was circumcised and after received Circumcision as a seal of the Righteousness of Faith ver 10 11 of this 4th Chapter to the Romans or Legal For he was so Justified 400 years before the Law was given Or personall by the works of righteousness which he had done For then first he should have had matter of boasting that he had done something towards his own Justification ver 2. And secondly then his justification should have been reckoned not of Grace but of debt and so the glory thereof should have redounded to Abraham and not to God ver 4. And if by no one of these kinds of his own then not at all by his own righteousness That it was by Faith he proves by clear Testimony of Scripture ver 3. Therefore the conclusion stands that we are justified also by faith without works That Faith and not any righteousness of our own makes Christs righteousness ours Another Argument he draws from clear and evident Scripture witnessing that the righteousness and justification which consisteth in the forgivenes not imputing and covering of sinn is made ours without works therefore by Faith alone ver 6 7 8. When in these two Arguments none can deny but that the righteousness and Justification which Abraham obteined and which Consisted not in the doing but in the imputing of righteousness and in the pardoning and not imputing of sinn is the Justification which is by Christ and when the Apostle laboureth not at all to prove this to be The proper Righteousness to Justification but takes it as granted and unquestioned all must acknowledge that his question was not What righteousness it is that Justifieth whether Christs or ours But when all his dispute is confined to this one point to prove that this righteousness by Christ is made ouâ—s not at all by works but altogether by Faith what rational man can be so swayed by a Spirit of Contradiction as to say with Mr. Br. that St Pauls question was not to make out by what means this Justification by Christ may be made ours Whosoever will see these two Arguments further and fully illustrated and amplified together with more arguments to these annexed let him peruse the residue of this 4 Chap. And if he return with his Reason sound and brings not this verdit that it is impudence not judgement in Mr. Br. to state Pauls question as he doth Then am I a stranger both to Paul and Reason Again when the Apostle still insisting upon the same subject setts forth the priviledges of them that are justified by Faith doth withall affirm that while they were yet sinners Châ—ist dyed for them and so they became Justified by his bloud and being yet enemies are reconciled to God by his death Rom. 5. 1 8 9 10. thereby implying that there is nothing of our own works and righteousness except sin and enmity against God be such that doth or can Concurr to our justification so leaving justification to Faith onely it is evident that his principall question was not whether we are Justified by Christ but whether Faith alone or works with Faith are appointed of God in order to Justification I shall forbear to cite short testimonies from other Epistles of the Apostle evincing this Truth and pass to his Epistle to the Galathians in which he wholly levelleth to this mark It cannot be denyed by Mr. Br. himselfe that the Apostle there disputeth not of a legal but Gospel Justification and that this is a Justification onely by Christ that when he saith If any man if we or an Angel from heaven preach any other Gospel c. his meaning is not a Justification out of Christ for this should be a legal not a Gospel Justification but any other way to the Justification which is by Christ save that which we have preached let him be accursed Gal. 1. 8 9. Herein it was agreed between the Apostle and the false Apostles that Christ is the alone Justifier and that salvation is onely by him and to this all the seduced ones among the Galathians assented Else had they been Apostate from Christ to the Law and not to another Gospel as the Apostle terms it Gal. 1. 6. And from their beginning in the Spirit to seek
perfecting by the flesh The question therefore was whether Faith alone in Christ or eâ—â—e together with it a naturall faederall and practicall righteousness after the rule of the Law were required to the acquiring of the Justification which is by Christ Hence is that his zealous expostulating with Peter and Barnabas for giving some occasion to the Gentiles to question whether besides Faith in Christ some Conformity to the Law were not also needfull to Justification We saith he who are Iewes by Nature and not sinners of the Gentiles knowing that a man is not justified by the works of the Law but by the Faith of Iesus Christ even we have beleeved in Iesus Christ that we might be justified by the Faith of Christ and not by the works of the Law for by the works of the Law shall no flesh be justified Gal. 2. 15 16. The sum of his debate is as if he had said If we that besides the supereminent prerogative vouchsafed to us to be the Apostles of the Lord Jesus have a derivative holines by nature and the Covenant of God from Abraham and withall a righteousness oâ— works by living up to our utmost in the highest pitch of obedience to the Law having found by revelation from the Lord Iesus Christ that all these are nothing available but Faith alone proper and effectuall to obtein the salvation and righteousness which is by Christ have wholly rejected all confidence in and use of these in order and reference to justification and made our addresses by Faith alone to partake of his righteousness why do we by our judaizing beguile the poor Gentiles that have none of these prerogatives into a pernicious opinion of perfitting their justification by Christ with their practicall righteousness in obedience to the Law Where it is to be noted that in one and the same verse the Apostle doth thrice expresly banish works from having any thing to doe in the business of justification by Christ and no less often attribute it to Faith and belâ—leeving in Christ without all help of works And can it be doubted what the question is about which he disputeth To the same scope is directed all that he delivereth in the third Chapter That he pronounceth the Galathians foolish and even bewitched that having obteined justification already by Faith alone in Christ they would be seduced to seek the perfecting thereof by works Gal. 3. 1 2 3. That while they were ambitious to become the Children of Abraham they fell utterly from Abraham and from the justification which Abraham found by seeking it another way then Abraham found it viz. by works and not by Faith onely ver 6 7 8 9. That so to seek it was the way to meet with the Curse in steed of the blessing of Christs righteousnesse ver 10-12 of which more may be said a little after That the justification which is by Christ discendeth by promise to us and promises are the object of Faith not of works ver 17 18 22. But all this together with what the Apostle disputeth of liberty and bondage in the fourth Chapter I leave to them that will but considerately read it to judge whether it evinceth not that to be Pauls question which I have mentioned Lastly when the Apostle Gal. 5. 4. brandisheth so heavy a denuntiation against such as had suffered themselves in this point to be sedueed by the false Apostles whom Mr Br. followeth as his guides and gods Christ is become of no effect to you whosoever of you are justified by the Law ye are fallen from Grace What force had there been in this wrathfull threat if the question between him and them had been about the proper Righteousness by which we are justified if they had held iâ— to be their own righteousness in opposition to Paul that held it to be the righteousness of Christ they would have laughed at such a Commination as a meerly frighting squibb or scar-crow answering we grant all that we are fallen from Grace that Christ is become of no effect to us But what damage can by all this befall us we make not Christ our Justifier but labour to Justifie our selves we seek Salvation not from Grace but as a debt in justice due to the Righteousness of our own works The Apostle surely was not such an ignorant Antinomian as to dispute so impotently that his Arguments might by subtle Baxterians be thus flung back as absurdities in his face It is therefore evident that the Galathians when most sednced ceased not to make Christ their Righteousness but had yeelded to this imposture as the next Vâ—rse declareth that not Faith alone but their own works and righteousnes with it were pre-required to make them capable of the righteousness which is by Christ and that upon this ground the Apostle denounceth them to be Apostates from Christ and Grace because they sought by their own righteousness to entitle themselves to the righteousnesse which is by Christ and sought it not by Faith alone If any demand the reason of this Consequence that whosoever seeketh right to the Justification of Christ by his own works makes himself an alien from Christ from Grace the Apostle in part implyeth it in that which he speaketh in these 4 and 5 verses of Chapter 5. But had more fully explained himself Chap. 3. 9 10 11 12. So that by comparing together what he hath said in both places the reason of his Conclusion resulteth into all mens view viz. that such a one seeketh the righteousness and salvation which are by Christ in a legall not an evangelicall way by works and not by Faith therefore is bound to bring the perfect righteousness and works which the Law requireth to make him capable of justificasion by Christ or els falls from Christ from Grace to his everlasting ruine I shall add no more upon this subject not because the Scripture hath no more but because I hold this sufficient and know the morosity and humorousness of most readers in our times preferring an erroneous conciseness before a sound and full manifestation of the truth But my endeavour is to please not men but Christ I leave Mr. Br to trample his own rule not to be bold with Scripture by being first bold with Conscience I dare not usurp to my self his peremptory audaciousness with one breath of the mouth to destroy the whole Gospel in saying onely not shewing and proving that it must be thus understood He that can so do with holy things bewrayeth much pride and prophanness in his heart though he be never so much pharisaically enamelled and philacterized in the outside Let him see how he can answer God for his audacious curtness I shall not fear the censures of men for my length in bringing to light what he hath stifled in darkness Let my style please or displease fancies it shall suffice me to have taken off his first Paradoxicall imposture that he brings to prove his doctrine to be the same with
hine libet it makes me not onely to wish but even to hold my self almost in a desart as impatient of the company of some of our distinctionary Rabbies that admire and are ready to blesse themselves at the wit and profoundness of such wilde barbarous prophane senseless distinctions of this incomparable man that hath not his Peer in England when in this piece of his worth there is not a ploughboy so rustick but would easily whistle so prophanely in this kinde as he And if the reason were given to Mr. Br. why he is in this artifice more full than others it might be given in the Poets words Non tibi plùs cordis sed minùs oris in est Bax. pa. 309. 3 Paul doth by the word Faith especially direct your thoughts to Christ beleeved in For to be justified by Christ and to be justified by receiving Christ is with him all one Though I might except in some sense against this assertion yet because I cannot apprehend waking what he dreams sleeping how he will from this assertion prove that Paul either doth not exclude works from Justification or doth not attribute it to Faith alone I leave it unexamined If by Receiving Christ he means our taking him as our Lord to be obeyed in all his Commandments that we might thereby be justified enough hath been said before in the examination of his 66 72 73 Thes in answer to the fourth Argument that he brings for justification by works unto it I refer the reader Bax ibid. 4 And when he mentioneth Faith as the Condition he alwayes implyeth Obedience to Christ Therefore beleeving and obeying the Gospel are put for the two summaries of the whole Conditions The vanity and falsity of this assertion hath been discovered in the examination of his 62 70 Theses in which is Comprehended his 2 Argument for Justification by works What is there said being perused will take off I suppose from the reader all expectation of any more to be here said to it Onely by the way all may note 1 That what he saith here labours of the same disease with the former it is onely said not proved We must all sit at the Feet of this Gamaleel and beleeve because this great Doctor and Magister noster hath spoken it 2 That although it be the Popish Cause which he here mainteineth yet he with a holy Craft makes use rather of the Arminian than Popish Phrase the more easily to beguile the simple Calling works not as the Papists do plainly Works but Obedience to Christ and Obedience to the Gospel How doth he fitt his bait to be swallowed by gudgeons that cannot discern a line from a halter He knows there is a generation of men that detest swines flesh yet feed every morning upon pistles of pork as the greate â—â—elicacie Change the name and they disaffâ—ct not the substâ—nâ—e 3 Yet what he here saith he hath received in matter though notiâ—n words from Stapleton the Priest and his fellows We are justâ—â—ed saith the Apostle by Faith not by works i. e. saith Stapletâ— not by works without faith but by works and Faith that is saith Mr. Br. not by works or obedience out of Faith but by works implyed in Faith Let him that can decide which of these two is the finer Sophistâ—r and Papist 4 And no less harmoniously do Pauls words and Mr. Brs exposition and distinction upon them agree together than a harp and a harrow Paul affirms Justification or imputation of Righteousness to be without works Rom 4. 6 Mr. Br expounds his meaning to be without works which are not but by works that are implyed in Faith As good a distinction as if I should distinguish between the brains that a man hath out of his head and the brain which he hath in his head How great is his self-Confidence that he should think such absurd distinctions should take with any rationall man onely upon this Authority because such a Cathedral scholar hath said it And when Paul saith so frequently Not by works but by Faith he should mean by Faith works also implyed in Faith This were to affirm that Paul in the delivery of the sacred doctrine of the Gospel speaks by Contraries and that what things he setts in opposition we must take to be in a Conjunction so that if he had said a man seeth with his eyes not with his heels we must understand him to mean that he seeth with his eyes and heels together or with his heels implyed in his eyes What he addeth of beleeving and obeying the Gospel that they are the two summaries of the Gospel hath been before examined and both found to be the same thing Obedience to the Gospel being nothing else but the hearts submission to the voyce of Christ and doctrine of the Gospel in stretching forth faith to apprehend Christ alone to Justification illumination sanctification c. resting upon him both for salvation and for grace and power to walk worthy of it as hath been more fully before expressed Thus much in way of examination of the third part of his vindication viz. that his doctrine in nothing dissents from Pauls And in this poynt I doubt not but we have found Paul and him no less Cohering than Christ and Antichrist CHAP. XXII Whether there be any validity in Mr. Brs Apologizing for his Doctrine that it is not derogatory from the Righteousness of Christ THe 4th part of his vindication is to free his doctrine of Justification by works from being derogatory to Christ and his righteousness Here unto his endeavours bend in many parts of this his Tractate In stead of all I shall mention onely two or three places which Comprehend the summe and whole of all the rest Bax. pa. 307. The Righteousness which we must plead against the Lawes accusations is not one grain of it in our Faith or works but all out of us in Christs satisfaction Again Appendix pa. 78. Our dooing or works are required not to be any part of our Legall Righteousness nor any part of satisfaction for our unrighteousness but to be our Gospel Righteousness or the Condition of our participation in Christ who is our Legall Righteousness and so of all the benefitts that come with him What his meaning is he expresseth Aphor. Thes 79. pa. 313. in a Syllogism thus This Doctrine is no whit derogatory to Christ and his Righteousness For He that ascribeth to Faith or obedience no part of that work which belongeth to Christs satisfactory righteousness doth not derogate in that from that Righteousness But he that maketh Faith and Obedience to Christ to be onely the fullfilling of the Conditions of the New Covenant and so to be onely Conditions of Justification by him doth give them no part of the work of his Righteousness Seeing he came not to fulfill the Gospel but the Law Ergo c. I shall speak onely to the Syllogism because in it is fully Comprehended all that Mr. Br. hath
to say for the vindication of his doctrine from so fowl a scandal and blemish And here I shall in the first place onely minde the reader of what hath been before Copiously in its place manifested that Mr. Br. takes up this Feat of arguing from the Papists who to Clear their doctrine of Merit and Justification by works from being derogatory to Christ and his Merits do plead against us That they in no wise lessen the Merits of Christ by teaching that good works do Merit and Justifie But that herein they advance the Merits of Christ in ascribing to them this soveraign vertue and power to give validity and worth to mans good works to Merit and Justifie Nay the Hereticks say they degrade the Merits of Christ in teaching that mans works cannot Justifie or Merit as if there were not force enough in Christs Merits to enable them to it Whether theirs or Mr. Brs Argumentation have more shew of reason to support it I leave to the intelligent reader to judge 2 The whole Argument is Sophisticall and fallacious 1 In that his Argument is not full and wide to the proving of his position The position which by this Argument he pretends to Confirm is in his own words that This doctrine of his is no whit derogatory to Christ and his Righteousness But his Argument is shapen onely to prove that his doctrine doth not derogate from Christs righteousness not that it doth not derogate from Christ himself Were it granted that it doth not derogate from Christs righteousness yet it follows not that it doth not derogate from Christ any more than if a man should ascribe all due praises to Mr. Brs learning but should deny his honesty Charity Chastity verity or other like vertue in him yet because he doth not derogate from the learning of the man he doth not derogate from the man himself in any of his accomplishments Mr. Brs doctrine may derogate from Christ in veiling his grace mercy and fullnes in other Conditions required to the Compleating of his Mediatorship though it did where it doth not ascribe to his Righteousness its due praise and fullness 2 In that he playes with equivocation of words For to shun the deserved hatred which the Papists doctrine incurreth from the Saints of Christ he delivers their doctrine not in theirs but in the Arminian phrase putting under the name and in stead of good works Obedience to Christ For this is an equivocall phrase and as oft as it is used in the New Testament in order to Justification it is the same thing with Faith and differs not a whit from it The obedience of Faith obeying of the Gospel and obedience to Christ signifying nothing else but the deniall of our selves and our own righteousness and our trusting in Christ alone for Justification and salvation as Christ and his Gospel Command in opposition to the voyce of the Law that knowing nothing of Christ speaking nothing of faith saith Doe and work that thou mayest be saved Gal. 3. 12. But Mr. Br. takes this obedience to Christ not in that Gospel but in this legall sense for the fulfilling of the Moral works which the Law requireth to interesse us in the justification which is by Christ and so deceives his reader with the homonymy of the phrase 3 In putting a restricting in his Argument upon the Righteousness of Christ which in his position that he was to prove was left at large and in generall Christ and HIS Righteousness but in the Argument he putts a limitation upon it in the Major That Righteousness which also he explaineth to be onely the Satisfactory Righteousness of Christ as if there were no other but that righteousness in Christ whosoever derogates not from it could not derogate at all from Christs righteousness I may subscribe to the righteousness of Mr. Br. in some Acts of his though I onely desire but finde it not in other Many other Acts of righteousness were required in Christ even as he is our Mediator besides that by which he gave satisfaction to Justice for our Sinns without which his satisfactory righteousness becomes unavaileable to us And he that derogates not from the one may derogate from the other Yet see we the boldness of our Sophister what he restreigneth in the proposition about Christs righteousness in the Assumpeion he leaves indefinite loose generall and without restriction again not that righteousness but HIS Righteousness so making his Argument by his fallacy of four terms to run four-footed 4 By begging the question in Calling good works which with him is the same with Obedience to Christ the Condition of the New Covenant and Justification by Christ Well doth he put it upon himself saying He that maketh them such for neither God nor Chtist ever made them such 5 His Activity and Liegerdemain which he useth to draw off his reader from Considering the palpable sophistry used in this Argument This he seeks to do by giving and prosecuting in the explication of this Thesis a seeming reason that he bringeth to prove his assumption viz. that Christ came not to fullfill the Gospel but the Law and then spending his whole explication about it When not to speak how equivocall and ambiguous the phrase is and in its most literal and grammatical sense the assertion altogether false we utterly deny either that Christ hath fulfilled the works of the Law or the Gospel in our stead otherwise than by giving satisfaction by his death for our infirm and maimed fulfilling of them or that works done to justifie us are as all works of the Gospel but are contrariwise wise wholly works of the Law or that Christ hath any more satisfied for our infirmities in fullfilling the works of the Law than of the Gospel in that sense in which Mr. Br. distinguisheth them It was his part not to say but to prove soundly his assertion if he would not have it exploded for a new and vain fancy rather than to have answered in his explication objections of his own making that scarce touch upon the matter in question This might suffice as a full answer to his Argument to have proved it in so many particulars to be unargumentall no argument or a faulty argument not a Syllogism but a Para-logism Yea not to leave an occasion to any of excepting that the propositions of the syllogism may have some force in them or either of them apart from other to his purpose I shall afford the labour to examine them also To the Consequent of the Major I have many things to say 1 That it is as the whole Argument sophistical a meer declining of not a speaking to the question The word in that is foysted in besides the question and makes that which is said unsaid as altogether besides the question That which he undertakes to prove is in his own words that His doctrine is no whit derogatory from Christ and his Righteousness To prove this see how grossly he acts the
Sophister to be guâ—le fools in stead of a Logician to satisfie the intelligent He that ascribeth saith he to works or obedience no part of that work which belongeth to Christs satisfactory Righteousness doth not derogate in that from that Righteousness No less true than the Gospel but so farr from the question as the earth is from heaven For who ever questioned whether the not ascribing to works that which belongeth to Christs satisfactory righteousness be a derogating feom that righteousness Yea it were madness in any to question it For if the not ascribing should so derogate then God Christ Spirit Word Apostles Prophets all Protestants yea all animate and inanimate Creatures without understanding should be guilty of derogating from Christs satisfactory righteousness For none of these ascribe to works any part of that work which belongeth to that righteousness of Christ How palpable is this cheat which Mr. Br. would put upon us He that doth not ascribe c. doth not derogate in that i. e. in his not ascribing to mans works what belongs to Christ from Christ By the like Argumentation might Joah clear himself from the guilt of murther Committed upon two better men than himself and Christs Tormentors themselves from having any hand in his death Thus might they learn of Mr. Br. to plead They that wound not that keep a mans head from wounding do not in that take away his life True the not wounding of the head was not prejudiciall to the life of them whom they slew But the wounding and piercing of their bodies and shedding out their bowells made them as actually murtherers as if they had also dashed out the brains of them whom they slew It was not what they did not but what they did that Constituted them guilty of murther So it is not Mr. Brs not ascribing but his ascribing to works that derogates from Christ Shall we thinke that Mr. Br. slumbered and doated into this fallacy Is he a puny that he should need to be taught how to express himself in an argument Nay all must see that he knows it to be a heterodox and desperate Conclusion which he mainteineth that no honest and holy means can pillar up therefore tramples all ingenuity under-foot running over it to fetch patronage from his Sophistry And even herein bewraies the high thoughts that he hath of himself that all his flies are Eagles and his grossâ—st Conceptions oracles and his abasing of all others that they are so blinde as not to see and so blunt as to be all taken in his rook nets Or if we take his meaning thus That his doctrine in making Works a Collaterall with Faith to Justification which he would say plainly if he meant not fraudulently and had not his own judgement and Conscience suggesting to him the weakness falshood of such an assertion because it ascribeth no part of the work of Christs satisfactory righteousness to works doth not derogate from Christ and his righteousness Then I deny both the Consequent and Consequence of the Proposition For 1 It derogates from him and it a full potency and efficacy to justifie any one untill it be animated and enlivened by our own works to do it leaving it all feeble dead to produce its effect untill our obedience as its Concause gives life to it And this is Contradictive to the doctrine of the Apostle who asserteth the efficacy and actuall efficiency of Christ and his righteousness to justifie us yet ungodly Rom. 4. 5. yet without strength to work yet sinners yet enemies and so workers against him Rom. 5. 6 8 9 10. 2 It derogates from it its glory in parting and dividing our Justification between his righteousness our righteousness so ascribing part of the praise to man which ought to be attributed full and entire to Christ This also is contrary to the doctrine of the Apostle that excludes works under every notion from having to do in the business of Justification to exclude Boasting lest any man should boast or glory in himself Rom. 3. 27. 4. 2. Eph. 2. 9. But that He that glorieth may glory in the Lord 1 Cor. 1. 29 30 31. Nay it doth not onely derogate from but totally destroy and nullifie the righteousness of Christ as to us and our justification For so first the Apostle testifieth Christ is become of no effect to you whosoever of you are justified by the Law Gal. 5. 4. And to be justified by the Law or by the works of the Law are with the Apostle the same thing as hath been oft shewed before Yea to seek justification in any part or degree by the works or obedience which the Law requireth as a Condition of Justification is to seek to be Justified by the Law Works being the Condition of Justification by the Law and not by Grace 2 Because it obstructeth the way of Justification which Christ hath made and sends poor souls to seek it in a way that is impervious by which there can be no access to Christ his righteousness For the righteousness of Christ is given of free Love pure grace meer mercy as a free Gift Rom. 5. 15. Freely offered and received Rev. 22. 17. Without money and without price Isa 55. 1. He is the worst Simoniak that seeks to buy this gift of the Holy Ghost for money to make it his by his own Merit and obedience Whosoever is admitted to it such a one is rejected from it For Christ came to call not the Righteous but sinners to repentance The Publicans and Harlots enter when these are excluded They shall come from the East and from the West c. From all parts of Paganism and Barbarism that shall sit down with Abraham Isaac and Jaakok in the kingdome of God in the possession of graâ—e and righteousness by Christ but these that think themselves in their own righteousness to be the children of the kingdome shall be cast out with the Jewes into whose doctrine manners they are naturallized And justly For he that worketh i. e. brings works to inright him to Justification Challengeth it as Debt from Gods Justice as the fruit of his own work Merit that God oweth to him not as a free gift from his grace Rom. 4. 4. Who will envie to him the fruit of his deservings This is Condemnation from the Tribunall of Justice where no flesh can be justified when they which work not but beleeve on him which Justifieth the ungodly i. e. which bring Faith alone without works as Coadjutors to put them into the actuall and sensible possession of the righteousness which is by Christ these even these alone shall be justified at the throne of grace Rom. 4. 5. Why these seek it in the way where God is present to give it The other in a way wherein God never was never will be present to bestow it Lastly I deny the Assumption also It is false that Mr. Br. making so as he doth it Obedience or Works the condition
again with the strokes of his Curse so sorely that we shall be healed no more while the world lasteth I have sworn that I would no more be wroth with thee nor rebuke thee Isa 54 9. i. e. I have sworn but never meant to stand to it I might instance hundreds more of such Scriptures wherewith Mr. Brs. glosses and distinctions do as well agree as fire towe together If Mr. Br. did so much honour the very intrals of Gods word as hee doth the backside of Aristotles Topicks he would not dare so to elude and elide them But Gods authority with him must it seems stand or fall as it hath or hath not approbation from Aristotles or Socinus his Reason being submitted to the censure thereof And then what living plant of God can stand where this man brings the Axe of his distinctions to fell and prepare billets in heaps for his Cole-fires B. 2. As to the Covenant of works though he make them Concomitants with Faith in justifying and that the voyce of the New C is after his Assertion the same with the voyce of the Old Do and Live yet he denies his doctrine to be herein Legall Because there is a manifold difference implyed though not expressed between the Lawes and the Gospels justifying by works 1 The Law requireth an obedience or righteousness of works in every number and degree perfect to justification But hee makes the New Covenant or Gospell to require only sincere obedience or obedience perfect in sincerity for the attainment of this end Aph. pa. 133. 316. and Thes 77. pa. 310. and App. pa. 76 77. And the sincere covenanting of this obedience or this sincere obedience covenanted must be thus conditioned else it is not sincere 1 It must follow upon the knowledg of the Nature ends conditions of the Covenant 2 It must be done deliberately and not in a fit of passion or rashly 3 It must be done seriously and not dissemblingly or slightly 4 Freely and heartily and not through meer constraint and fear 5 Intirely and with a resolution to perform the whole Covenant and not with reservations giving themselves to Christ by the halves or reserving a purpose to maintain their fleshly interests 6 It must be the taking and obeying of Christ alone not joyning others in office with him but renouncing all other happiness save what is by him and all government and salvation from any which is not in direct subordination to him Append. pa. 33. These make up a sincere and perfect obedience a sincere and perfect Gospel-righteousness perfect in respect of Evangelicall though not of legall perfection For sincerity is our Gospel perfection being a conformity to the rule of perfection viz. the New Covenant as it is a Covenant a perfection of sufficiency in order to its end which is to be the condition of Justification Aph. p. 132 133. Who now is there of all men that hath eyes in his elbows but seeth distinctly a vast difference between the Laws and the Gospels justifying by works For it is justice which requires perfect but Grace that requireth but sincere obedience to justification All this is without book the dictates not of the Holy Ghost but of Mr. Br. and that spirit which wrought in his Masters from whom he learned it For 1. The Scriptures which he alledgeth in any part of this Treatise to make any part thereof probable have been examined and none of them found to speak for him most against him Neither do these assertions of Scripture that affirm Christ to give or promise that he will give life salvation c. to such or such qualified or working persons as to them that love him or fear him or obey him or to the meek the righteous c. any more infer that these qualifications or works have any proper or improper causality to produce their justification than when the Scriptures affirm him to give grace and life to Centurions Publicans Harlots Sinners Enemies Uâ—godly Chief sinners Samaritans Heathen do infer that their being such had any causality unto their justification 2. Nay the Scriptures utterly deny the Gospel to have to do with the Law in this voyce Do and Live as I have before oft alleged them Not by works of righteousness which we have done but of his Mercy he hath saved us by Faith not of works Not of workes but of Grace And how poor a shift Mr. Br. useth to elude the force of these and the like Scriptures hath been shewed in the examination of his vindicating himself from being contradictive to St. Paul 3. Yea if works in any notion or consideration be brought as coupled with Faith to promote Justification the Scriptures affirm them to destroy the hope of Justification and to repell the grace of Christ by which the Beleevers are justified If ye be circumcised which in Pauls sense there is if yee bring but this one work to forward your Justification by Christ ye are bound to keep the whole law Christ is become of no effect ye are faln from grace and faln under the Curse Gal. 5. 3 4. 3. 10. 4. And if works or obedience in Mr. Brs. sense which is the doing of the moral Righteousness that the Law commandeth be not as much as adjuvant to Justification then surely sincere obedience cannot be helpful where obedience yea perfect obedience is excluded This is and appears to be either an instinct or a distinction of Mr. Brs. own brain not a doctrine of the Scripture for which way shall we turn the leaves thereof to find it 5. Yea how rational or how ridiculous this distinction or gloss of Mr. Br. applyed to those Scriptures which deny justification by the obedience of works I leave both to the seeing and the blind to judg By the works of the law no flesh shall be justified saith the Apostle i. e. saith Mr. Br. by the perfect obedience of works but by unperfect obedience if sincere we may be justified Not of works but of grace i. e. not of works perfectly done but of works unperfectly yet sincerely done so grace and works may be made friends that is Gods grace and mans vain glory may kiss each other as co-equal workers of mans justification Not by works of Righteousnes which we have done but of his mercy c. i. e. which wee have done perfectly but which we have done maimedly yet sincerely If some Festus should hear such a Commentary of Mr. Br. upon Paul he would conclude sure that one of them is beside himself much learning hath made him madd Either Paul that he had not wit or words to express his own meaning that in the whole bulk of his disputes denying unto our works and righteousness indefinitely all operation to Justification doth not as much as with a Parenthesis in any place inform his Reader that he speaks not of Gospel but of legall works not of sincere but of perfect obedience that these are rejected from those necessarily
seduced and they all but damned in him their principall and leader Would not Mr. Br be one of the first that would cry out at such an Arguing as absurd and not Logicall Yet because he is a man made up of the very spirits of Reason and brings his Reasons that his Assertion agrees with right reason according to the tenor of the Gospel I shall produce two or three in steed of many Gospel Scriptures and lay by them his Reasons to see how pertinently they will agree as a Commentary with the Text. The Holy Ghost tells us Eph. 2. 8 9. We are saved by Grace through faith not of works lest any man should boast Mr. Br. Comments upon this Text thus i. e. Principally by Faith least any man should boast principally of himself But not of works principally to exclude this principall boasting yet lesse principally of works also that man may also boast lesse principally of himself Or thus according to his second reason Of Faith and not of works unreducible to Faith lest any should boast yet of works also that by some relation or cognation are reducible to Faith that of such works we might boast Shall we call this a hatchet or a Comment upon the Text. Which of these Explications is the more absurd Or as if in this latter that runs more smoothly then the former we might not conclude so wisely of any morall vertue or duty When we are said to be justified by any or all good qualifications and works we are said to be justified by Mercy or Chastity or Wisdom onely because all other vertues and works are reducible to this by some one or other kind of relation or cognation Again Rom. 4. 16. It is of faith that it may be of grace the Antithesis whereof is given ver 4. Not of works that it might not be of debt The Comment which Mr. Brs first reason gives to this Text is Nay it is both of Faith and works works are comprehended in Faith as the lesse principall in the principall So that the meaning of the Text is that it is principally of Faith that it may be principally of Grace but lesse principally of works that at least less principally it may be of debt also His second reason thus Comments It is of Faith that is of Faith and works reducible to Faith that it may be of Grace not of works unreducible to faith such as are murther witchcraft Sodomy blasphemy c. that it may not be of debt Again Tit. 3. 5. Not by works of righteousnesse which we have done but according to his mercy he saved us i. e. saith Mr. Br. Not principally by our works but according to his mercy Yet lesse principally by our works and not according to his mercy Or not by works of righteousnesse done by us that are not but according to Gods mercy that is reducible to Faith What else to make of it when he hath taught me I may divulge I might annex many Texts of the same nature upon which these two reasons of his set as Comments will speak out so much of sense as the Commentator doth in them of Conscience But I have fully both examined and anâ—wered before all that is comprised in this Thesis where I took occasion to weigh every branch thereof under the notion of his second Argument which he brings to prove Justification by works To it I refer the reader for fuller satisfaction B. 2 That he doth not derogate from faith in yoking works with it in the joynt procurement of justification because he doth not ascribe to works an equall part with it in this office or businesse but makes faith the more principall and works but the lesse principall part of the Condition granting our first Justification to be chiefly by faith and the second Justification onely by Obedience and ascribing the beginning or first point of Justification to faith alone and but the continuance and consummation thereof to works Aphor. Thes 74. p. 302 311 312. And in many other parts of his Book All this hath been fully and oft answered before Here onely I shall intreat the reader to retein in mind what hath been before pointed at 1 That the Gospel mentioneth not knoweth not any such distinction of a first and second Justification by Christ but speaks onely of one justification That this doubling of Justifications is but a juggling fancy of the Papists by them first created and by Mr. Br. licked into a finer mode and form for the pillaring up of their Justification by works which hath no proppage from the word 2 That according to Mr. Brs principles who caseth both together in one kind of causality it cannot be discerned how otherwise then by bare and glozing words any pre-eminence can be given so as duly to belong to Faith above and before works in this businesse 3 That even where and in what respects Mr. Br. gives a pre-eminence it belongeth more properly to works then to Faith Because the consummation and perfitting of Justification is so far more excellent then the beginning thereof as that which is perfect then that which is unperfect And herein he equalizeth and in som phrases seems to prefer works to Faith in their operation to perfect what is begun 4 That the Scripture affirms not onely the first but also the last point and period the consummation as well as the beginning of Justification to be by Faith By the Gospel the righteousnesse of God viz. which he giveth us to Justification is revealed from Faith to Faith saith the Apostle he saith not from Faith to works but from Faith to Faith that is omitting other Interpretations partly ridiculous and partly invalid and besides the scope of the Apostle from Faith inchoat to Faith growing and consummat or coming neerer and neerer to consummation This Exposition the choicest of our Divines give as both properly agreeing with the drift of the Text and as owned and patronized by the like phrase in other Scriptures From strength to strength Psal 88. 7. From glory to glory 2 Cor. 3. 18. which even all acknowledge to be understood from one to another from a lesser to a greater degree of strength and glory So also of this phrase from faith to faith And thus not onely the beginning but also the increase and consummation of Gospel Justification in our own Consciâ—nces before God is here attributed to Faith which as it groweth to more and more strength by apprehending more and more revelations of the Gospel so it more and more declareth and evidenceth to the soul the certainty of our Justification to the continuall stablishment and increase of our peace and joy in the Holy Ghost And thus the Magis and Minus is in us not in God and whatsoever of increase there is is from Faith not from works Nay the same Apostle tels us it is a most unglorious task which this uncomparably wise and profound man undertakes viz. to teach them that are wise
to salvation to become fools thereunto Are yee so foolish saith he having begun in the Spirit are yee now made perfect by the Flesh That by the Spirit and the Flesh is to be understood Faith and works in order to Justification cannot will not be denyed When therefore Mr. B. teacheth men to seek the beginning of Justification by faith and the perfecting thereof not by Faith onely but by works also he teacheth them to be foolish O foolish the worst fools to salvation and to be wise onely to condemnation This is to be wise according to Mr. B. wisedom in this Tractate that is wise after the Flesh not after the Spirit in seeking happiness in the way of works which the wisedom of the Flesh teacheth not in the way of Faith which the wisdom of the Spirit the wisedom of Christ his Gospel revealeth But all this together with a plain and full discovery of the vanity of this evasion hath been in its due place before held out which would be but a tyring of the Reader here again to be troubled with Onely the generall and chief thing which Mr. Br. both here and elswhere layeth as a foundation to his Justification by works it shall not be amisse briefly to examine here for the prevention of deceit to his Reader before I put a totall conclusion and period to what I have thought fit to except against this Work of his If it prove sandy and unsound his great Colossus of Justification by works falls all to shivers This is his quaint interpretation of faith in all such Scriptures as ascribe to Faith in opposition to works our justification That then by it we are to understand all Gospel duties all that Christ Commandeth not Faith in a distinct consideration from other qualifications and duties but Faith in a collective sense comprizing all morall duties and actions within it which is Faith and all its fruits yea more Faith and all that is reducible to it And thus according to Mr. Br. so oft as we are said to be justified by Faith not by works we must understand that the Holy Ghost meaneth that we are justified by Faith and works done after the tenor of the Gospel not by Faith and works done after the tenor of the Law Behold now the unfathomed depth of Mr. Brs wit and the unlimitted verge of his power His wit surpassing all the wisedom of all good and Orthodox men and Angels of whom no one had ever the reach since the world began to find with all his searching such a bugbear sense lurking in the plain Scripture Texts of the Apostle His power that with the stroking of this Mercuriall rod he makes fire and water life and death hell and heaven to lay down all their enmity each to other and sweetly to coll lodge and incorporate together Who would have thought that Paul who so seriously and sacredly professeth that he had rather in the Church to speak five words with his understanding so that he might teach and edifie others also than ten thousand in an unknown Tongue 1 Cor. 14. 17 19. And in preaching the Gospel discended to the unlearned and babes to feed them with milke to make all plain and easie to their understandings 1 Cor. 3. 2. should yet every where deliver the chief doctrine of the Gospel Justification by Christ in so dark Parables and riddles that none could find it out untill this Oedipus inspired from Socinus and Arminius rose up to unâ—iddle him For let there be named any one Protestant in any age till Mr. Br. held out his Candle to give light to the Sun that ever could dream of this Allegoricall sense after the principles of Origen lurking in Pauls words Or what hinders now but Faith may be turned into works and works into Faith Grace into strict justice and strict justice into free Grace the Law into Gospel and the Gospel into meer Law since Mr. Br. hath made a reconciliation and composure between Faith and Works in the point of Justification But whether this interpretation of Mr. B. be so firm as it is pretty and witty hath been before examined as elswhere so in the Examination of his third Argument for Justification by works drawn from his large definition of Faith which he giveth in his Thesis 70. Here onely I shall mention some phrases or names by which Justifying Faith is described in Scriptures and leave it to the judgment of every intelligent Reader to determine whether works can properly or in any tolerable sense be said to be comprized in faith as acting in the same kind of causality about such acts as those phrases or names imply 1 As Mr. Br. himself in his shorter definition defineth faith it is called our Receiving of Christ Jo. 1. 12. and that not in that wide sense which Mr. Br. fancieth but in that strict sense wherein Paul interprets it viz. the receiving of Christ to be our Righteousnes or receiving abundance of Grace and of the gift of righteousness by him Rom. 5. 16. 2 It is called the directing of the eye or looking to Christ yea to Christ lifted up upon the Cross for healing Io. 3. 14. 3 A coming to Christ for Life Jo. 6. 37. 5. 40. 4 The eating of his flesh and drinking of his blood to everlasting life Jo. 6. 53-56 5 A putting on of Christ as a Garment of Righteousness to cover our nakednesse and filthinesse Phil. 3. 9. Rev. 3. 18. I could add many the like phrases if it were needfull But these may suffice and who is there that sees not these to imply an instrumentality in faith to make Christ ours to Justification Yea and that in faith onely and not in works at all for how can Charity Chastity Mercy righteousnesse and the severall acts of these and other qualifications of which most have our Neighbour or Brother for their immediate Object about which in acting they are occupant be called the receiving intuition of and coming to Christ the eating of his flesh and drinking his blood or the putting on of him for righteousnesse It would seem strange to me that any man waking and not dreaming should conclude such works to be Antecedents and not the fruits of Justification and life by Christ Or that when faith is described by these denominating phrases works also as couched in faith should contrary to their nature be so denominated Nay Faith is thus diveâ—sly named in opposition to works yea to Gospel works For so doth our Saviour answer and determine the question put to him what to do under the Gospel that we might work the works of God i. e. what is to be done on our part that we may be justified and saved This is the work of God saith he that is this is in steed of all doings all workings that ye beleeve in him whom he hath sent Jo. 6. 28 29. which after he expresseth more fully to be a beleeving in him that came down from heaven and
he fights against natural reason perswading men never more to eat because their meat is not appointed to Clothe them or to walk naked because he saith their garments are not usefull to nourish them No more Cause hath Mr. Br. or the Papists to accuse us that we banish good works from the life of a Christian by teaching that they are not usefull or appropriated to justifie but to sanctifie very usefull in all the particulars before-mentioned How unacquainted with the frame of a Christian spirit are these objectors Either they do not experimentally know or else do stifle within themselves this knowledge that a Christ-enjoying and Gospellized soul gaspeth no less for deliverance from the bondage than from the Condemnation of sinn delights so much in performing duty to Christ as in receiving pardon from him groanes so pathetically under the body as ever he did under the guilt of sinn Cryeth with equall vehemency of affâ—ctionâ— for holiness unto God as for happiness with him for Conformity to him in righteousness as in glory makes no other use of his redemption than to run at liberty the race of obedience set before him embraceth and delighteth in sanctifying as well as in saving grace in the infusion as in the imputation of righteousness labours to dispense all for the Lord and his service whatsoever he hath received from the Lord and his free grace Therefore whatsoever the Lord powrs upon him to sanctification is received with so great joy in the Holy Ghost as that which is communicated to him to justification and he labours to be and express himself wholly Christs as well as to obtein Christ wholly his As for Mr. Brs meerly Morall Men that will receive Christ neither to Justification nor to sanctification but upon their own terms purchasing him by Fine and rent that the glory might be partly theirs and not wholly Christs It is enough that Mr. Br. hardens and subverts them in this their Moral madness wholly contradictive to the spirituallness and wisdome of the Gospel We shall not be insnared by all the nicities of his Arts and Chimicall extracts of the spirits of his spoyling Philosophy to involve our selves with him in the guilt of poysoning so many souls and turning their best righteousness and devotion into sinn by encouraging them to appropriate the same to such an end as is destructive to the glory of Gods grace and contrary to the minde and rule of the Gospel We have one Master which is Christ his dictates expressed by him and his Apostles in the plainness and foolishness of their preaching are so sacred and authoritative with us that neither the most labyrinthical mazes of sophistry shall unwinde us nor the extravagancies of the most luxuriating witts nor the most Curious plausibilities of humane reason shall by Gods Grace unreason us so from our selves as to undisciple us from him Yea though we could not in some things give a satisfactory answer to the sophisticated reasonings of these disputers against Christ and his Gospel yet should we fit down as fools with Christ and his Apostles adoring the manifold wisdome of God revealed in a mystery rather than be wise with these men to the world knowing that the foolishness of God is wiser and the weakness of God is stronger than men And we seek wisdome and happiness from the mines of Christs Gospel not from the dry quarrie of mans literature and inventions 2 Though we reject it as an arrogant and presumptuous doctrine which Mr. Br. in Common with the Papists teacheth That we are justified and saved by our good qualifications and works for our works for the merit and worthinesse of our good works yet we teach and believe that they are in respect of all that have age ability and time to perform them necessary Consequents of our Justification and Antecedents of our glorification Let a man pretend what he will of Faith in Christ yet if by Faith hee do not cleave firmly to him to derive from him power to mortifie every sinn to perform all duty if he can allow within himselfe any known evill or continue in the neglect of any known duty without striving to get the victory in the strength of Christs Spirit over every such infirmity wee take such a man so farr from Christ as Christ is from Belial A branch in Christ not bearing fruit which is appointed to be cut off and cast into the fire because he was never in Christ otherwise but by a formall profession never had vitall union to him or communion with him by the ligatures of Faith and the Spirit For sanctification is an individual companion of Justification And the office of Christ is to be the Author of both to all that believe Otherwise the work of his Mediator-ship should not be compleated in either one of these and so he should not be our Christ if a halfe Christ only to us And Sanctification is still begun and carried on towards perfection also where there is time and meanes in the kingdom of Grace before its perfecting and swallowing up into glory in the Kingdom of glory No righteousness and holiness of man is begun in the next life But there shall be the consummation in power of that which here was begun in truth though it laboured of and languished with much infirmity 3 Wee are guiltless of those Crimes wherewith Mr. Br. endeavours to defame us and our Doctrine For 1. Neither doe wee teach or think as M. Br. suggesteth that nothing is preaching Christ but preaching him as a pardoning justifying Saviour Aph. pa. 328. Indeed we preach Justification to consist if not only yet chiefly in the pardon of sinn through the mediation of Christs death That this benefit of Christ is perfected by the satisfaction which he hath made to Gods justice in suffering for us and appropriated to us by faith alone But wee deny this to be all the Gospel-grace exhibited to us by Christ and in and through him We hold him forth as the Light of the world also having all the treasures of wisedom and knowledg hid in him Joh. 8. 12. Col. 2. 3. from whom are all the irradiations and Revelations of all the mysteries of Grace effectuall to life and holiness Mat. 13. 11. 1 Cor. 2. 10. And to the word and spirit of Christ we send all men for illumination And the Life of the world not only to restore them to life in law by Justification but as the Lord and principle of Life to beget in us an inherent life active and moving to all obedience Therefore we endeavour to send all to Christ for life even for this life because the whole judgment and dispensation thereof is committed to him and he is our all to sanctification also Joh. 5. 21 22 25 26. Col. 3. 11. We indeed except against that Doctrine as more Legal than Evangelical that roars thunders Condemnation against poor Exiles in a dry wilderness where is no water fainting and even dead with
thirst if they do not arise work and fulfill their task We require first that the Rock be cloven with the Rod of God that the water of life may gush out in full Rivers and that the fainting souls be brought to drink thereof and then called upon in the life and strength which they have hence received to work and be doing Yea to come to this stream often to drink that their strength and spirits may be daily more revived that they may bâ—come daily more enabled for and more abundant in the work of the Lord. We have not with Mr. Br. yet learned the skill of preaching good works to make Christ ours but follow the rule of the Scriptures to preach Christ into the hearts of men to make them fruitfull in good works Neither doe wee count all formall obedience and righteousnesse of men though conscientiously and by the guidance of Naturall Conscience performed to be either sanctification or the fruit thereof That onely is sanctification which flowes from the heart of Christ and is infused by the Spirit of Christ For the attaiâ—ment thereof we call all men into union and fellowship with Christ so far are we from holding that Nothing is preaching Christ but the preaching him as Justifier and Saviour that we hold it an empty Preachment that preacheth any good thing without Christ or out of Christ of which men are not taught to make Christ the Alpha and the Omega We leave it to Mr. Br. and his brethren to urge works duties obedience c. and once in a Moon upon an auspicious Tropick thereof to remember Christ and grace and tell us that all must be done by the help of grace and without Christ we can do nothing Yet leaving us uncertain still whether it be the Grace and Christ of Pelagius or else of God reconciled to us that he speaketh I should be too long in expressing fully how we hold forth Christ whole Christ and only Christ to Adoption protection perseverance strengthening comforting perfecting c. In a word to all that is either good to be received or good to be done In him wee teach that God will have all his frâ—sh springs to reside that without him we are nothing can do nothing that in him and by him we have all and can do all things That therefore we preach nothing but Christ yet preach all that is to be preached in preaching him because in him it pleased the Father that all fulness should dwell Col. 1. 19. even all fulness for us so that in him we are full out of him meer emptiness We would not have one beam of this Sun of Righteousness clouded but labour to discover to our people his full glory and Soveraignty to all those sacred ends to which God hath consecrated him that if any would have nothing of Christ to be preached but his pardoning and saving the sin may be wholly theirs not ours that they will receive the skirt of Christ and consequently refuse Christ when we preach to them whole Christ and all the benefits that are by him Nor 2 do we deny an ordinate and subordinate love to our selves as Mâ— Br. slanders us no lesse bitingly than secretly App. pa. 81 82. in teaching that it is the most Gospel-â—rame of Spirit to perform duty out of meer love to God without seeking by such duties wrought quasi opere operato remission of sins redemption from Hell and right to glory by the Merit thereof as he teacheth us to do thinking no doubt his glory shall be great if he can there perswade where all the suâ—tlest sons of Satan the Jesuits have not been able Nay we maintayn that none can regularly love himself who loveth not God above himself and seeks not Gods glory more than his own good That whosoever in a pretext of love to himself brings his fardle of trashie works at the feet of Christ by them to purchase to himself the benefits of his death is of all men the worst enemie to himself incurs rejection and expulsion from Christ and all the benefits of his death and resurrection For hee was sent to seeke oâ—ely that which was lost came not to call the righteous but sinners to repenâ—â—nce He loves himself indeed and spiritually that for his love to God denies himself The self-dejected Publican is acceâ—ted with God when the prating Pharisee is hurled with his mouth full of works out at the door Or is there any great difference between this and the Devils doctrine preached to our first Parents Ye shall be as Gods said the Devill Ye shall be all Christs Saviours Justifiers saith Mr. Br. Your righteousness and Christs righteousness shall jump together into the same kind of Causality to justifie and save you Our first Parents hearkned and seeking to become Gods became Devils or what is worse slaves to the Devill We have all felt the smart yet many and that of them which are termed Angels listen earnestly to the like hissing of the Serpent now again We can but mourn for them that in madd love to themselves will hasten up to heaven by climbing high Steeples that look fairly thither-ward but can never heave them up to it nay contrariwise can give them no such sustentation but that they fall thence and dash themselves into shivers Yet in our doctrine is contained a wise and ordinate love to our selves Though we use not works as waxen wings to soar aloft to kisse the Sun and settle our selves in the same Sphere with him yet wee make use of our qualifications and duties to the continuall encrease of our sanctification and to what greater good for himself can mans strongest love to himself aspire than to his full and real perfection consisting in his restitution to Gods image and conformity to his will and nature This shall be the Consummate blessedness which we shall enjoy above and it is a blessedness inchoate and increasing while we passe from strength to strength in it here Who are the self-haters and self-destroyers the Papists or we the success will at length evidence and such professed Divines and Christians among us as have not their eyes soyled with Kederminster dust and smoak can discern already Nor thirdly doth our doctrine tend to drive obedience out of the world So that we may answer Mr. Brs question Aphor. p. 325. If men once beleeve that works are not so much as a part of the Condition of our Justification will it not much tend to relax their diligâ—nce with the authority of the Apostle who having taught his Ephesians that we are saved by grace through faith not of works lest any man should boast Eph. 2. 8 9. Yet concludeth that as many as have learned Christ truly and heard him and have been taught by him as the truth is in Jesus These all have learned to put off concerning the former conversation the old Man which is corrupt c. and to be renewed in the spirit of the mind and to put on
the New Man which after God is created in righteousness and true holiness Eph. 4. 20. 24. If Mr. Br. had been taught of God as the truth is in Jesus I should think he would not have put at least upon deliberation left in print such a question and bold Cavill against the Apostle yea against Christ himself Object But if good works will neither justifie nor save me why should I do them and not take the liberty to do what I list Answ The voyce of a Rebel against God who if hee may not serve God to his own ends will not serve him at all and professeth openly that he doth all that he doth in Gods work not for Gods sake but for his own sake An Objection more deserving to be answered with a Thunder-bolt than with Scripture-reason Yet may there be alledged many other most holy and honourable ends for which we are to do good works though we be not justified and saved by them These I had thought here to have particularized but the work is swoln already to a bignes and dimension never intended at first And this Task hath been already so fully performed by so many of our Protestant Writers in answer to the Papists that I should but glean after them to say a little but begin a new work if I should say all that they have sayd and might be said to this purpose I therefore transmit the Reader for his full satisfaction to read Calv. Instit lib. 3. Cap. 16. Zanch. Confess Fidei pro se sua Familia bound with his Miscellan Vrsin Catech. Quest 91. Catech and his Quest 5. upon that Question Tylenus Synt. part 2. disp 46. Th. 8 9 10 11. where is to be read too short an abbreviation of the three former But M. Perkins in one of his works I remember though at present I am bereaved of them all hath the very same words of Zanchy translated into English in answer to this question And since these whole hundreds both of English and forreign Divines have after Zanchy and Perkins delivered the same things in substance with them though some more largely some more compendiously so that to the exercised Reader it will be superfluous for me to write any thing upon the same subject I shall conclude all in the words of Augustine as more needing his Apology than himself where he useth it Lib. de Spir. Litera Cap. 35. Haec egi libro isto loquacius fortasse quà m sat est Sed contra inimicos Gratia Dei paraeùm mihi dixisse videor Nihil que mihi tam multum dicere delectat quam ubi mihi Scriptura ejus plurimum suffragatur id agitur ut qui gloriatur in Domomino glorietur in omnibus gratias agamus Domino Deo nostro sursum corda habentes unde a patre luminum omne Datum optimum omne donum perfectum est that is These things have I treated of in this Book it may be with more than enough plenty of words and language But I seem to my selfe to have spoken little against the Enemies of the grace of God And I take delight to be large in speaking about nothing else so much as when both the Scripture doth most give its testimony with me and the question treated on is that hee which glorieth may glory in the Lord and that in all things we may give thanks to God having our hearts lifted up to the Father of Lights from whom every good and every perfect gift discendeth He it is that freely justifieth us by his Grace To him be the praise and glory of all and let his Kingdom come and be speedily inlarged throughout the world that from all parts thereof there may be a joyfull acclamation of Saints Amen Amen FINIS A TABLE of the Generall and Chief Heads of Doctrine Treated of in this Booke A WHether the To credere or Act of beleeving be that by which we are justified part 1. p. 164. and onward to p. 181. p. 363 364 Mr. Br. to shew that both Papists and Arminians are met together in his owne brest teaaheth both that it is our justifying Righteousnesse and imputed to us for Righteousnesse his Reasons to prove it examined ibid. p. 166 c. More of Act viz. Immanent and Life A short Animadversion upon Mr. Brs dispute of Christs Active and passive righteousnesse in order to Justification Part 1. p. 21. to 25. Afflictions befalling the Saints not parts of the Curse but fruits of Gods Love Part 1. p. 35. to 37. What they are in their nature ib. p. 44 45 Antinomians their first rise originall and what their Tenets then were part 1. p. 263 264. Their growth and what hath been in these latter yeers charged on them as errours ib. 264 266. What of all wherewith they have been charged is errour indeed ibid. p. 267. to 271. 273. Who are such in Mr. Brs Kalender Pref. p. 7 8. part 1. p. 271 272. His Fraud under this Nick-name to make odious the Gospel and all true Protestants Pref. ibid. part 1. p 274. In the midst of his Invectives against imaginary he hath more then all men besides honoured the reall Antinomians part 1. p. 162 163. and declared himself really one of them p. 277. Exotick Arts how far usefull in Divinity Pref. p. 14. to the 17. They are incompetent to be Rules and Judges in purely Gospel matters ibid. and in some following pages and part 1. p. 341. What evils have followed such use and abuse of it Pref. 24 c. How abasingly the Scriptures speak of it as so abused Pref. p. 22 23. More viz. Sophistry Authority of men viz. Faith B Bellarmine and Mr. Br. speak the same things in the point of Justification part 2. p. 25. 31. Bullingers judgment of mingling prophane Arts in teaching with the Gospel pref p. 42 43. C Mr. Brs new Modell of the Causes of Justification and Salvation examined part 1. p. 314 c. And 1 of the principall efficient Cause ib. p. 316 317. 2 Of the instrumentall Cause ib. p. 317 318. 3 Of th◠procatarctick Causes ib. p. 318. to 321. 4 Of the naturall Cause and the Protestant doctrine defended against his cavils ib. p. 323. to 327. 5 Likewise of the formall Cause ib. p. 327. 329. The Protestant doctrine that Faith is the Instrument or Instrumentall Cause of Justification viz. Gods effective and mans receptive Instrument largely defended against Mr. Brs Sophisms ib. p. 330. to 348. Whether Faith be the Causa sine qua non ib. p. 356 357. Works cannot be the causa sine qua non part 2. p. 110 111. Charity the Rule of judging one another and by what evidence it must judge part 2. p. 93 94. What it is to take half and what to take whole Christ to justification part 2. p. 184 186. What to make Christ our All in Preaching part 2. p. 291. More viz. Grace 293. Whether Justification run upon Conditions
Part 1. p. 277. to the 286. More of Justification see Bellarmine Repentance Faith Works Condition Scripture Lord Prayer Forgiving Love Easie Christ Papists Paul Cozen Grace Causes Reconciliation Degrees K. The kingdome and pardon of God and of Christ are one and the same Part 1. p. 228 229. L. VVhether beleevers are under the Law as a Covenant of works largely discussed against Mr. Br. part 1. p. 61 to 97. Protestants reasons for the Negative ibid. p. 62-66 Mr. Brs Sophistry in stating the question ibid. p. 66-70 The Law not repealed as a Covenant of Works to any but in a right sense nulld to beleevers part 1. p. 71-74 The vanity of the distinctions fallaciousness of the Arguments which Mr. Br brings to prove the Affiâ—mative ibid. p. 75. to the 97 Many abuse the Law in preaching it first not onely to kill but then also to make alive again Pref. p. 11 12. Distinguishing the same works into works of the Law and works of the Gospel viz Paul and Moral Law-giver vid. Lord. Legal or Law teacher vid. Gospel Secular Learning see Arts Sophistry Tertullion Bullinger The doctrine of Faith gives not the Reins to carnall Liberty Part 2. p. 286. to the 295 The doctrine of Mr. Br so accusing it doth se ibid. p. 170 171 c. Do and Live whether and in what respects the voyce of the Gospel and in what sense to work for Life not from Life or from Life not for Life are either and both sound doctrine Part 2. p. 137. to the 153. 158. Part 1. p. 179. Whether Christ Justifie as our Lord and Law giver and that it follow thence we are justified by works as well as by Faith Part 2. p. 64. to the 84. How farr and in what sense onely the affirmative may be granted ibid. p. 79. The question stated ibid. p. 65. Mr. Baxters Arguments to prove the affirmative answered ibid. p. 71. to 84. VVhether Love cooperate with Faith in Justifying Part 2. p. 37. 40. Our Acting from Love to God denieth not a regular Love to our selves Part 2. p. 293 294. M. Mr. Brs Magisteriall and usurped Authority in saying without proving Part 2 p. 252 253. Marks vid. Evidences Metaphysicks see Arts. Mr. Brs doctrine of Merits examined in which he shews himself as high-flown a Papist as any of the Jesuits Part 1. p. 186. to the 194. An Admonition to such Ministers as inconsiderately suck up Mr. Brs doctrines Part 1. p 59 60. What the Moral Law is as considered in it self and in what sense taken Part 1. p. 197-199 VVhat Relation it hath to the severall Covenants ibid. p. 201 202 c. Why the Gospel continues it as a Rule and that it can be no more repealed or abrogated than God un-Godded ibid. p. 199 200 203-206 N. Novelty or Newnes of words and phrases used oft for the Vshering in of errors Part 1. p. 128 129. O. Obscuring see Darkening How all the Offices of Christ concur in our Justification yet nothing concludible thence for Justification by works Part 2. p. 63 64. Origen how great a Scholar and how great an abuser of his Learning and corrupter of the Gospel Pref. p. 33 34. P. VVhether our doctrine by excluding works from justifying be a stumbling block to Papists hindering their conversion and an occasion given to many learned men to turn Papists and therefore unsound Part 2. p. 188 to 197. Mr. Brs doctrine compared with the worst of the Papists and found one and the same with theirs Part 2. p. 215. to p. 222 His doctrine compared with such of the Papists as write more moderately found worse than theirs ibid. p. 223. to the 229. VVhether his doctrine contradicts Pauls or not ibid. p. 234. to the 258. His first Reason refuted viz. that Pauls question was what is the proper Righteousness by which we are justified but his own by what means we may attain this Righteousness though they answer differently to these differing questions they consent in Judgements ibid. p. 239 to the 250. His 2 reason that Paul excludes the works of the Law not of the Gospel vain and Popish ibid. p. 251. to the 257. His 3 reason that Paul under the word Faith implyeth works and obedience vitious in the same kinde with the former ibid. p. 257 258. It is no sound reason that Christ commands not the Perfect Righteousness of the Law because Mr. Br seeth no Reason why he should require what he enableth no man to perform Part 1. p. 215. 217 VVhat Reasons thereof may be given ibid. p. 216 217. Perfect See Sincere and Righteousness Person vid. Work Philosophy vid. Arts. Whether Mr. Brs doctrine be as he contendeth free from Popery Part. 2. p. 209 to 215. VVhether it be possible for us to perform a Righteousness perfect to Justification Part 1. p. 194. 196. Whether and in what sense Praying for pardon may be said to be a condition of pardoning and justifying Pa. 2. p. 31-33 Promises see Qualifie Punish and Punishment vid. Curse and Affliction VVhether Mr. Br hold for Purgatory Part 1. p. 54-56 Q. Promises of life made to persons so and so Qualified describe the Justified but demonstrate not for what they are justified Part 2. p. 40 41. 269. Rules given by our Divines for the right understanding of such promises to persons of such qualifications P. 2. p. 112 c. Quotations without the words of Scripture or shewing how he would argue thence why so frequent with Mr. Br. P. 2. Cha. 2 3 in the beginning thereof R. Whether ReconciliatioÌ„ denotes the same thing with or different from Remission and Justification Part 1. p. 227 228 308 309. VVhether and in what Respects sin may be Remitted before it be committed Part 1. p. 310. to the 313. Whether and in what sense Repentance may be said to officiat in Justifying Par. 2. p. 26. to the 31. Scripture seemingly asserting it examined ibid. What Legal Repentance is ibid. p. 26. What the life promised and death threatened under the Law to this legal Repentance are ibid. p. 26-28 What Gospel Repentance is and how manifold ibid. p. 29-31 Sometimes one with Faith ibid. p. 29 30. In what sense life is promised to it ibid. Repentance either in its large or strict sense how it giveth life ibid. p. 28 29 30. Mr. Brs doctrine of a twofold Righteousness absolutely necessary to Justification the one Legal the other Evangelical this in our selves that in Christ and his Reasons to make good 1 his phrase 2 his matter examined and refelled Part 1. p. 119. to p. 143. His dispute that his doctrine is not derotory to Christ and his Righteousness proved fallacious and false Part 2. p. 259. to the 265. VVhether Righteousness be a Reall Being or else but a Modification of a Being Part 1. p. 149 150. 159. to 161 VVhether the Scripture call men Righteous only for performing the Cnnditions of the New Covenant Part 1. p. 144. to 163.
home into their apprehension and Conscience that their sinns are remitted For so run the words in that 10 of Act. v. 47. that Whosoever beleeveth in him shall receive remission of sins not denying that Christ had received it for them before but affirming only that now they should receive it from Christ Besides this promise is held forth there promiscuously to all both elect and reprobate and it is but an offer not the gift of pardon to distinguish betwixt them for whom Christ had and those for whom he had not effectually satisfied and received absolution from the Father by the ones beleeving and receiving by faith from the hand of Christ the pardon and the others refusall and manifesting thereby their abode under death and the Law still The surety had paid the penalty of the obligation taken up the bonds and acquittance or discharge of the debt Thenceforth the Creditor had no more plea against either principall or surety Nevertheles the principall knew it not therefore playeth least in sight is in continual fear of arrests thinks every bush hath a Sergeant or Bayliff under it but at length the surety gives and delivers into his hand both the acquittance the obligation Cancelled Now is his first receiving of a discharge now he first finds himself free from his Creditors obligation now hath he the first comfort of the benefit but he was discharged before though he knew it not so is it with the elect c. Therefore Mr. Baxters inference hence is unsound He addeth the Testimony of Paul Eph. 2. 3. That the redeemed were by nature the Children of wrath who denyeth it But this is nothing to the question It is not here enquired whether the redeemed drew not the seeds of sin and death by naturall propagation from their parents as much as others But whether by the satisfaction which Christ made for them according to the Covenant of grace they were not redeemed from that wrath before they yet beleeved It is true what Mephibosheth said of himself and his brethren to David We were all as dead men before my Lord the King c. 2 Sam. 19. 28. because they were the progeny of Saul that fought against David Nevertheles by means of the Covenant that intervened between David and Jonathan Mephibosheth had right to all the favour that King David could express As for those testimonies cited by way of Thesis and Antithesis out of Gal. 5. ver 3 4. ver 18 23. they make wholly against him nothing for him The 3 4 verses speak nothing to the question in hand but utterly destroy that to which in this whole dispute he driveth nothing to the question in hand The circumcised are bound or debtors to the whole Law and Christ is become of none effect to them He was to have proved that beleevers were before they beleeved under the Law This Text speaketh not of the elect before they beleeved but of professed beleevers returning to Circumcision and the Law to fetch thence help unto their justification after that they seemingly at least beleeved in Christ so here is nothing that makes for him because nothing to the present question But much against him in reference to the grand thing which he laboureth for to bring beleevers under the Law as a Covenant of works Whosoever doth so saith the Apostle in the least mite that contents not himself with Christ alone takes in but so poor a peice of the Law as Circumcision to help with Christ to Justification the same person hereby forfeiteth all his claim to Grace and Christ and must gain heaven by his perfect fullfilling of the Law or must be damned in hell for ever Into this state Mr. Baxter striveth to bring himself and his disciples I shall not wish them joy in it because I use not to wish impossibilities Touching the verses which he puts in opposition to these ver 18 23. But if ye be led by the Spirit ye are not under the Law against such there is no law If he mean simply and sincerely what the Apostle here meaneth by being led by the Spirit viz. the seeking of righteousnes by Christ alone as the same Apostle more fully expresseth himself Gal. 3. 3. Phil. 3. 3. Then by granting that such are not under the Law there is no law against them he destroyeth and recanteth all that he hath before spoken to prove beleevers under the Law But if by being led by the Spirit his aim be to bring in works to justification under the name of the fruits of the Spirit we shall here forbear to answer him because it is besides the present question leaving it to its fit place where he openly explaineth himself And no less abhorrent from the question is his next proof Gal. 3. 22. The Scripture hath concluded all under sin that the promise by faith in Jesus Christ may be given to them that beleeve What is this to the purpose in hand we deny not the promise of or the promised Justification and remission of sinns by faith in Jesus Christ to be given to them that beleeve into their hands and possession when they beleeve by affirming that Christ hath taken possession thereof for them before they beleeve that he may let it down into their hearts when they beleeve He ascended up on high and led captivity captive and gave gifts to men Eph. 4. 8. The Apostle fetcheth his authority from the word in Psal 68. 18. where it is said He received gifts for men viz. to give them in his time But the Apostle contents himself with the scope of the word not binding himself to the bare letter and sound thereof So Christ at his ascension received for us the gifts of Justification and remission and all other benefits of his passion They were then laid up for us in his Custody so that we had them in him before our actuall existence upon earth But he gives them to us into our sensible possession when we come to be to live and to beleeve That which he citeth from Gal. 4 5. is altogether besides the question also Himself acknowledgeth that it proveth us onely to be under the Law when Christ redeemed us or undertook to pay our ransom Not that we were under the Law after he had redeemed us by paying our ransom before we yet beleeved The words are these in the 4 5 verses God sent forth his Son made of a woman made under the Law to redeem them that were under the Law The scope of the Apostle here is one and the same with that to which he drives Gal. 2. 15 16. We who are Jewes by nature a holy seed within the Covenant and have all the privileges of the Law and not sinners of the Gentiles that are without the Covenant and the Law knowing that a man is not justified by the works of the law but by the faith of Jesus Christ even we have beleeved that we might be justified by the faith of
Christ and not by the works of the law for by the works of the law no flesh is justified Why then do we draw the poor Gentiles to seek any furtherance to their justification by the observation of the Law by which our selves who were most privileged with it could not be justified but by Christ onely without the law So here Even they that had the law and were not a little zealous for and active in the righteousness of the law had need of a redeemer were justified and saved not at all by the lawes righteousness but onely by Christs redeeming of them What madnes is it then in you O foolish Galathians that are not of the holy stock of Israel but sinners of the Gentiles to seek any help to your justification by the works of the law which could not justifie the very Israelites that were born and brought up in it and not to repose your selves upon Christ alone If Mr. Baxter will pretend any other meaning of the Text besides he shall therein wound and not strengthen his Cause For he speaks of the same persons here to be under the law onely in the hand of a Mediator not under the Curse of the law but under such an administration thereof that even before they actually beleeved in Christ the very person of Christ are affirmed ver 1. to be Lords of all all the inheritance which is by Christ ergo not under the wrath of God before they embraced the Faith of Christ As for the other Scriptures which he annexeth yet further to prove that the very elect before and untill they beleeve are under the Law in the sense so oft manifested let him once shew how he will argue and what he will conclude and upon what grounds from them we shall be ready to answer him In the interim I profess I see not any thing in them more prevalent to his purpose than a nights lodging in a bed of snow and ice to cure the Cough Yet from all these wrested Scriptures he Concludes at last that the deliverance which beleevers have by Christ from the Curse of the Law is a conditionall deliverance viz. if they will obey the Gospel i. e. when they beleeve if they will beleeve not onely while they live but also when they are dead and buried For as we say that a conditionall proposition doth nihil ponere so it is true in the sense of Mr Bax. here that this conditionall promise doth nihil promittere The Condition as long as this world lasteth being still in performing not performed and so nothing obteined Yet will he have this new nothing together with the abrogation of the ceremoniall Law to which we never were none but the Israelites ever have been subject to be the great privilege of beleevers and effect of Christs bloud When we poor souls with our dull eyes can see no more privilege that we have herein by Christs bloud than the worst of infidells and reprobates have for they also â—ave this conditionall deliverance from the curse and freedom from the ceremoniall law And this deliverance saith he is yet more full when we perform the conditions of our freedom And then we are said to dead to the Law Rom. 7. 4. and the obligation to punishment dead as to us ver 6. This is indeed a full and perfect deliverance But what doth he mean in saying when we perform c. either when we are performing the conditions That were a contradiction to himself in what he saith p. 74. that we are not perfectly freed till the day of resurrection and judgement And so also it will be hard for another save Mr. Br. to make sense of the words That the deliverance of beleevers is yet more full when they perform the Conditions are performing the conditions of their freedom i. e. more full when they beleeve than when they do beleeve For if we should grant to Mr. Br Faith to be a condition and not rather a mean or instrument of our justification yet would we grant him no other condition thereof Or doth he mean it is full when they have performed the Conditions it seems then that some of the Conditions are left to be performed in the next world because untill then he tells us we can have no such perfect freedom This is the free Grace of God which Mr. Br boasteth himself so much to extoll p. 79. let him that delights in it be his disciple That which he speaks in the upshott for the mitigation of his harsh doctrine aforegoing that he knoweth this Covenant of works continueth not to the same ends and uses as before c. is but a trick of the Jesuits to give sugar after the poyson which was before gone down to destroy Neither can he make out how beleevers are under the law of nature as a Covenant of works and yet not bound to seek life according to the tenor and condition of that Covenant If any marvell that Mr. Baxter should so waste his spirits in abusing both divine and humane learning to prove the Saints to be still under the Curse under the law as a Covenant of works he will cease to wonder if he take notice of a further aim that he hath therein He would not out of doubt have so much insisted on it had he not looked to a further end in it If the beleevers are still under a Covenant of works as to the Curse wrath and Condemnation much more are they under a Covenant of works as unto life and Justification If the former be once granted he accounts the game wonn as to the latter Therefore doth he so much stirr in the former that he may with the more facility and less contradiction bring in afterwards the latter Justification by works which is his very busines in Compiling this book CHAP. XI Whether as the Covenant of Works was made with all mankind in Adam their representative so the Covenant of Grace was made with all the elect in Christ their Representer What relation the Covenants made with Adam Abraham the Israelites and lastly with us under the Gospel have to that Covenant made with Christ B. Thesis 14. p. 89. THe Tenor of the New Covenant is this that Christ having made sufficient satisfaction to the Law whosoever will repent and beleeve in him to the end shall be justified through that satisfaction from all that the Law did charge upon them and be moreover advanced to far greater privileges and glory then they fell from But whosoever fullfilleth not these conditions shall have no more benefit by the bloud of Christ than what they here received and abused but must answer the charge of the Law themselves And for their neglect of Christ must also suffer a far greater condemnation Or briâ—fly whosoever beleeveth in Christ shall not perish but have everlasting life but he that beleeveth not shall not see life but the wrath of God abideth on him Mar. 16. 16. Jo. 3. 15 16 17 18. 36.