and question whether he do or know for where is the Man that ever affirmed that God reckoned that we did and suffered in our own Persons what Christ did and suffered I am sure the Scripture asserts the contrary saying he trod the winepress alone and there was none with him As to that which he calleth a false charge thou mayst Reader look back unto his 12th Article and see if it be not true of himself however there saith he it is the acts works doings and obedience of this blessed Mediatour that are imputed and counted to the Elect for their justifying Righteousness so that from hence he may judge If God doth account the very acts works â—oings and obedience of Christ as Mediatour to the Elect for their justifying Righteousness how it can be avoided but he must reckon them to have in Christ performed those acts works doings and obedience of Christ the Mediatour and what are they to whom God doth reckon those acts works doings and obedience of Christ the Mediatour but their own Persons doth God account Christ's acts works doings and obedience to such as are no Persons God indeed accounts what Christ did and suffered for the good and in the place and stead of and poor lost Sinners But then doth he account them in their own Persons in the sense of any Law to have obeyed and suffered in Christ which he must do if he account the very acts works doings and obedience of Christ as Mediatour unto them as this Man saith for if God do impute the very acts works doings of another in obeying and suffering unto me and reckon them as mine in themselves then he must either account me to have performed those very acts works and doings in that others obeying and suffering or he must not If he do then the charge is true and just against himself I mean this Man who is so brisk and confident If he do not then how can they in Law sense be imputed and reckoned to me as mine in themselves I suppose the mistake of this Man is here when I speak of Persons in a Legal sense he would have me understood in a Physical sense only and whether he do this on set purpose or from ignorance I know not But â—urther having proved that that which he calls a false charge is true of himself from his own assertion I shall inform him of another and that a Person in his day of worth and learning who saith Christ stood in a double relation for us unto God First Of a Surety Seâ—ondly Of a common Person And a common Person saith he with or for another he goes for is one who represents personates and acts the part of another by the allowance and warrant of the Law so as what he doth as such a common Person anâ— in the name of the other that other whom he personates is by the Law reckoned to do and in like manner what is done to him as being in the others stead and room is reckoned as done to the other Mr. Tho. Goodwin in his Treatise of the support of Faith from Christ's Resurrection Cap. 2. Now let any judge if what he saith in this matter be not the same with that which he calls my false charge And in his Application Cap. 4. Sect. 3. saith he Christ was considered and appointed by God as a common Person both in what he did and in what was done to him so as by the same Law what he did for us is reckoned or imputed to us as if we our selves had done it and what was done to him tending to our Justification and Salvation is reckoned as done to us 22. I believe saith he that in this weighty point of Justification such an one naming me is one with the Papists Arminians Socinians and Quakers and against the châ—â—f of those counted Orthodox since the Reformation as Luther and worthy Calvin of old c. And Thomas Goodwin Dr. Owen and Mr. Chancey of later times I Question not if this Man had been acquainted as he should what I hold in this point and such as go under the names he mentions that he durst not have made this an Article of his Faith But what will not malignity say and leave all without proof as this Man doth this Article of his Creed It is like he expects his testimony should be received without any more to do and here he is saying as they did in Jeremiah's time come let us smite him with the tongue and I do expect if any thing come forth that will bear the name of a reply to this of mine it will be railing language much what of the same complexion with this though indeed if this Man had offered any likely proof for the truth of this his charge as I do where I apply any of these names I should not so have called it When therefore he hath made it good 1. That I hold Justification by an inherent Righteousness which is a conformity to the Law of sinless perfect Works or that Faith is a meritorious Righteousness or that Christ merited that we by Grace or Duty might merit Let him make it good 2. That I hold that the 〈◊〉 credere or the very act of Faith justifies i. e. as an act Or 3. That I hold that Christ did not purchase the Covenant of Grace or that I deny Christ's Merit and satisfaction and place grace or sincere duty in the room and place of Christ's Meritorious and Satisfactory Righteousness 4. And when he hath made it good that I hold I need no more to answer the Law of Innocency or to free me from the curse and condemnation of it and procure Salvation for me but what is inherent and a walking accordingly When he hath proved I say that I hold all these above mentioned things then I will confess he believes a truth concerning me But so long as he doth not and that because he cannot I must say he believes a lie until he retract and acknowledge he hath wronged me in saying I am one with the Papists Arminians Socinians and Quakers in this point of Justification Touching those he saith I am against in this his Article I have this to say whatever unwary expressions our Reformers and others that follow their Phrase may have left in their Writings with which so far as their notion did agree it was not sound yet to me it is out of doubt that as to what is the main in this point and respects especially the practick part both Luther Calvin and the rest of our Reformers as such never held that any Man or Woman ever had I speak of the Adult actual interest in Christ and right to Pardon and Life while remaining in a state of Impenitency and Unbelief and Rebellion against God And if not then wherein am I against them in this point If it be said but where will you find in their Writings that Faith is imputed or that it is our formal justifying Righteousness
THE TRUE NOTION OF Imputed Righteousness AND OUR Justification thereby BEING A supply of what is lacking in the late Book of that most Learned Person Bishop Stillingfleet which is a Discourse for Reconciling the Dissenting Parties in London but dying before he had finished the two last and most desired Chapters thereof he hath left this main point therein Intended without Determination By the Reverend M. S. a Countrey Minister But now the righteousness of God without the Law is manifested being witnessed by the Law and the Prophets Even the righteousness of God which is by Faith of Jesus Christ unto all and upon all that believe for there is no difference For all have sinned and come short of the glory of God Being justified freely by his grace through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus Rom. 3. 21 22 23 24. LONDON Printed for Tho. Parkhurst at the Bible and Three Crowns near Mercers-Chappel in Cheapside 1700. THE EPISTLE TO THE READER Courteous Reader THese Sheets were sent from an humble and modest and therefore the more considerate Minister of the Country to a Minister in London to be printed as he thought meet They came up without any Title at all to them and without any Partition and the Title therefore and the Sections are put to them by another when they came hither It is like that the Author never saw nor heard of this late Book of the Bishop seeing few that see it and read it but are displeased and they may well be so with that Person or Persons whosoever they be who were entrusted with his Papers that they should give an unfinished Discourse to the Bookseller or Printer who for their part yet cannot be faulted for accepting their profit to be published to the great disappointment of so many as expected satisfaction from such a hand The truth is they have herein dealt with the Bishop's Book as Hanun dealt with David's Servants they have sent the poor thing out with the garments as it were cut off in the middle and thereby as it needs must be greatly ashamed If for the covering this nakedness now we should have made use of any present clouts that were at hand though we had no such rich attire for it as himself would have put on it we might be excused But seeing the Cloathing we bring is for being home-spun and Countrey made the more substantial it may not only be excused but accepted as like to serve the purpose better then if it were finer in regard to such for whom intentionally the sheets were written By one who was desired to peruse the Manuscript but unknown to the Author THE AUTHOR TO THE READER Readers HAving done my Book there is one thing you are to understand or I am farther to acquaint you with that whereas my Adversaries charge me with contradicting our Reformers and being one with the Papists they cannot make good the charge and therefore 't is a slander For our Reformers what they writ upon the point was against the Papists who contended for Justification by inherent Grace and good Works as a Conformity to the violated Law i. e. the Law of Innocency and also that this Righteousness was in its own Nature Meritorious of Justification and Salvation but here or in this I do as much oppose the Papists as our Reformers and so am one with them in this respect in the point so far am I from contradicting them So that if the Persons my resolved Adversaries will have me to be one with the Papists and against our Reformers when I affirm that Faith in Christ is the qualifying though not the meriting matter of our Justification or that which is the Qualification giving right to Christ and his purchased saving benefits which follow hereupon they must prove that it is so accounted by me as it is a Conformity to that Law which requires sinless perfect Works and condemns for non-performance of the same and also to be meritorious of Life according to that Law or else all they say contradicts not me and if not then all their noise is but a beating the Air and so to no purpose seeing they are quite off from the matter in question The Papists affirm that the Law of God may be perfectly kept in this Life and that they intend the Law injoining perfect sinless Works is manifest seeing that our Protestants in opposition assert that no mortal Man is able to keep the Law of God perfectly in this Life and that it is no way possible to keep the same perfectly for if Man by Grace as the Papists say might perform the Law he might deliver himself by Grace from the Curse but now are we redeemed from the Curse only by Christ who was made a Curse for us and again say they if the Righteous Man keep the Law then he is without Sin for where there is no transgression of the Law there is no Sin but no Man is without Sin so that the opinion of the Papists upon the point is that the uniea formalis causa Justificationis est justitia Dei qua nos justos facit quam quisque in se recipit i. e. The only formal cause of our Justification is the Righteousness of God whereby we are not reputed just but are made just indeed This is the Righteousness which a Man hath within himself and is inherent in him and this justice or Righteousness it is plain they account an exact Conformity to the Law which requires perfect sinless Works for they teach that it is not only possible for Men to keep the Law of God in this Life but to do more than is prescribed or commanded in that Men of their abundance may allot unto others such works of supererogation These therefore who bring me into such worthy company as Mr. Baxter Mr. Humfrey Mr. Clerk whom they charge with Popery as they do me in the Doctrine of Justification because they affirm a practical Faith to be the qualifying matter of right to Christ and his saving purchased benefits which follow thereupon when every where they deny it to be the meriting matter asserting that to be Christ's Righteousness and his only do manifestly wrong and slander them and me for before our Adversaries can make us one with the Papists upon the matter in Question i e. in the point of Justification they have to prove that we hold these following things 1. That a Man in this Life by the Grace of God received may be perfectly conform'd to that Law which requires sinless Works 2. That Grace and good Works in their own nature considered as inherent do justifie 3. That they do so in the account of the above mentioned Law which injoins sinless Works 4. That the same Law which requires sinless Works is the Instrument of our Justification or that by which God doth judge or account Persons righteous upon their Conformity thereunto and so justifies them by it Now these things are so far from being holden
promise for sinners upon their sincere repentance and faith There are promises of pardon and everlasting life to sinners that repent and believe Acts 3. 19. John 3. 16. Now for any to affirm that these promises are made and the grace promised granted to sinners who repent and believe without regard had by God unto Christ as the purchaser of them by his meritorious satisfactory righteousness is for them to affirm that God grants and gives saving grace to penitent sinners which Christ never purchased nor merited and this is for none but the Socinian to hold 2. This Law or Covenant of Grace thus purchased and granted injoins sinners faith in Christ which faith is never without repentance nor sincere obedience if the believer be continued after the gift of faith for undoubtedly if the believer live in this World after the gift of faith so long as he doth live through the grace of God he continues obedient 1 John 3. 23. Matt. 21. 30. Heb. 5. 9. 3. Christ by his righteousness hath purchased and merited the Holy Spirit to work faith in the hearts of all those sinners who thereby are brought to believe John 14. 26. John 15. 26. The Spirit is sent by the Father in Christ's name and sent by Christ from the Father Let any one now prove that what the Father gives in Christ's name and what Christ sends from the Father is not purchased and merited by him And the Spirit is called the Spirit of Faith i. e. the principal Efficient or Author of it 2 Corinth 4. 13. 4. I believe that all those who by the Grace and Spirit of Christ do sincerely believe shall for and upon the account of Christ's satisfaction and meritorious righteousness be saved but as for such as live and die in infidelity they shall be â—amned notwithstanding Christ's merits and that because they have rejected the remedy through their unbelief I speak of the Adult John 3. 16. 18. 36. 5. I do believe that as the first Covenant did require sinless perfect constant obedience Galat. 3. 10 so this obedience performed by innocent Adam would have been his justifying righteousness or that righteousness upon which this Law or Covenant would have justified him or given him a right to Life promised which is all one with Justification if confusion can but be removed and this without any regard had to the righteousness of another Rom. 10. 5. 6. I believe that as the second Covenant i. e. the Covenant of Grace doth require true Faith so where there is this true Faith which is the righteousness this Covenant calls for on the Sinner's part this Covenant doth as certainly justifie the sinner thereupon i. e. give him a right to Pardon and Life as the Covenant of works would have justified Adam and given him a right to life had he continued in the state of integrity Though observe That it is with regard had to the righteousness and satisfaction of Christ that this Faith is accepted and accounted by God in the Covenant of Grace for a sinner's personal justifying righteousness instead of that sinless perfect righteousness which the Covenant of Works injoined And is not this wonderful Grace I add it is Faith in the sense of the Gospel giveth Sinners interest in Christ and a right to all saving benefits he hath purchased and so merited which right given by the Covenant of Grace is its justifying the Soul as God's moral Instrument Though still I most firmly hold that it is for the sake of Christ alone and his righteousness that the believing sinner hath this right and that this his Faith which is the gift of God is accepted as a personal righteousness instead of sinless perfect obedience I do not say by the same Law i. e. the Law of innocency or perfect works no but by the Covenant of Grace which accepts of sincerity instead of strict legal perfection I deny then with abhorrence that Faith is any such thing as a satisfactory and meritorious righteousness in whole or in part such a righteousness being proper to our blessed Mediatour the Lord 〈◊〉 But then I do not deny but affirm that a true and living Faith is by God in the Gospel constituted that righteousness which giveth sinners right both to Christ and all the blessings of the Covenant of Grace And grant me but according to Scripture Rom. 3. 21 22. Rom. 4. 13. Philipp 3 9. that Faith is a righteousness and such a righteousness as the Gospel calls for and that it giveth right according to the Gospel promise to Christ and his purchased benefits and see then what ground there is to deny it the place of a justifying righteousness I ask doth it give any interest in Christ and right to the blessings he hath purchased if not then an Infidel must have as great an interest in Christ and as much right to Pardon and Life as a believer If you say that Faith doth give interest in Christ and right to these blessings then you say the same with me i. e. that for the sake of Christ God by the Gospel hath constituted Faith to be our personal justifying righteousness or that which gives us interest in Christ and an actual right to the blessings purchased by and promised through him and this is the justification by Faith I intend and all that I know of in and by the Gospel Justification by all is acknowledged to be a Law term if so then the matter of Justification is jus secundum legem a right in Law and this right in Law results immediately from a conformity to that Law and the conformity to that Law is the righteousness which that Law requires And the Legislator or Law-maker justifying a person is his judging asserting or accounting by this his Law a person upon his conformity thereunto to have right to the priviledges contained in the premiant or rewarding â—art thereof If the matter stand thus then in the nature of Justification as is clear none can be justified by the Law of Innocency or that Law which injoins sinless perfect works for we can have no right in or by that Law to Pardon and Life and that because thaâ—â—â—w relates to Man considered in the state of sinless â—ntegrity who as such having no need of Pardon it makes no provision for it And 2 We cannot have right in or by that Law to Life seeing none of the fallen race of Adam can yield conformity thereunto and so cannot have that righteousness which answers this Law And if so as is plain then God the Legislator or Author of this Law doth not cannot judge assert or account that any have a right in or by this Law to Pardon and Life and so doth not nor cannot justifie us by it and if not doth not nor cannot account a perfect legal righteousnesâ— such as Christ's is to be our personal justifying righteousness for if so then we should be personally righteous in the sense of the Law of Innocency But
if we are then it will either be accepted of God or it will not If it will not Then to what purpose is it performed If it will Then is it of Grace that God accepts it And if of Grace must it not be accepted in and through Christ's Satisfactory and Meritorious Righteousness If so then it must be revealed by God in his word to be his will that we should thus obey i. e. sincerely and that we shall be accepted through Christ hereupon this will of God commanding is either a Law or it is not If not then there is no Transgression if we do not obey if it be then they must grant us a Law of Grace which for the sake of Christ will accept of sincere obedience instead of perfect and also they must grant that Christ hath purchased this or else they and all Mankind upon a supposition that God had continued Man should still have been obliged to sinless obediâ—â—ce as a condition or qualification of Life and so for want of obedience of this sort we should all have been left to the execution of the Curse and been damned for ever And observe this Law of Grace of which we speak doth not destroy the Moral Law summarily contained in the Ten Commands for we say still we are under obligation to have respect unto and obey all its commands in avoiding Sins which are forbidden and performing the duties which are commanded therein But this is that we say that we cannot nor do not perfectly obey though we have a principle of Grace wrought in us by the Holy Spirit but yet we sincerely obey and have respect unto its commands this shall be pleasing and acceptable to God for the sake of our blessed Mediatour And seeing such obedience would not have been accepted of God upon a supposition that fallen Man could have performed it of himself which I am sure he could not had not the Lord Jesus Christ by his Satisfaction and Merit procured it should is not here a plain different constitution and so a new Law purchased by Christ distinct from that which Adam in the state of Innocency was under But upon the matter some say the obedience injoined Adam and the obedience commanded us now is the same specifically or in its own nature and differs only gradually and therefore the Law must be the same and there is no necessity of a new one I Answer grant we that the obedience doth only differ gradually considered materially yet the obedience injoined us formally differs from that of Innocent Adam's and therefore cannot be of the same nature with his for our obedience is to be performed by us as penitent Subjects not so innocent Adam's and also in Faith of acceptation through a Redeemer and Mediatour but not so innocent Adam's so that our obedience now formally differs from that of Adam's in Innocency and therefore differs from it specifically and not only gradually and hence there must be a new constitution or Law injoining it Or else what warrant have we for it But suppose there should be only a gradual difference when indeed there is more as is manifest yet it doth not follow that the Law commanding is the same for it is sinless obedience the Law of Innocency requires and it will accept of no less now if less be accepted we must have a new Revelation and so a new warrant for it from a command or else what foundation for it or incouragement unto it and seeing we have a new Revelation and so a new warrant from God's command of this obedience then we must have a Law to which it relates distinct from that given to Innocent Man but in the very matter of obedience we shall find that injoined us which was not commanded Adam in the Law of Innocency nor indeed did suit at all with the nature of such a Law which will make it further evident we must have a new Law as fallen Creatures distinct from that Isa 1. 16 17 18. Wash ye make you clean put away the evil of your doings from before mine eyes cease to do evil Learn to do well seek judgment relieve the oppressed judge the fatherless plead for the widow Come now and let us reason together saith the Lord though your sins be as scarlet they shall be as white as snow though they be red like crimson they shall be as wooll Isa 55. 7. Let the wicked forsake his way and the unrighteous Man his thoughts and let him return unto the Lord and he will have mercy upon him and to our God for he will abundantly pardon Ezech. 18. 21 22. But if the wicked will turn from all his sins that he hath committed and keep all my statutes and do that which is lawful and right he shall surely live he shall not die All his transgressions that he hath committed they shall not be mentioned unto him in his righteousness that he hath done he shall live Acts 3. 19. Repent ye therefore and be converted that your sins may be blotted out when the times of refreshing shall come from the presence of the Lord c. What is required in these Texts is the revealed will of God which Sinners through his Grace are to be subject unto And is not subjection where it is yielded obedience Can this will of God then thus commanding be any other than a Law seeing that non-performance must be a manifest transgression and disobedience Let it be considered then if what we find commanded in these Texts was injoyned Adam before his fall had he needed to wash him and make him clean and put away the evil of his doings was he then wicked and called upon to forsake his wicked ways and sinful thoughts and turn unto the Lord before he was guilty of any transgression was he called upon before his fall to repent and be converted that his Sins might be blotted out before he had any Sin and to believe in a Redeemer that he might be saved or are these the commands of the Law requiring sinless works One would think those that oppose us should not affirm it and if not is not all this required of Sinners and must not that be a distinct Law by which it is required and is not God's own constitution how dare some Men then call it an humane invention It shall come to pass in the last days that the Mountain of the Lord's house shall be established and many People shall go and sup come ye and let us go up to the house of God and he will mark us his ways and we will walk in his paths for out of Zion shall go forth the Law and the word of the Law from Jerusalem SECT VI. Justification described and made good partly in this and partly in the Sections ensuing HAving proved that there is a Law of Grace distinct from that which requires sinless works and that God justifies by this Law you may take this definition or description of Justification i.
Imputation of Faith as it unites to Christ the greatest Argument is Authority what Orthodox Divines as they call them say In Answer to which I shall say as the Divines did at the late Portsmouth Disputation My Religion is in the Bible I own my self a Protestant and with such it is a fundamental or Principle that the greatest and best of Men are fallible and therefore our assent is not concluded by meer words of one or other name how great soever we pay a very just deference to the Worthies these our Adversaries intend but we cannot think our selves obliged to believe every thing they have said we must not turn Papists yet and satisfie our selves with a meer implicit Faith a judgment of discretion whether some will allow us or not we must make bold to take It is not very rational for Men to be angry because we will not shut our own Eves and see altogether with other Mens He that is first in his own cause seemeth just but his Neighbour cometh and searcheth him FINIS A DEFENCE OF THE Foregoing Doctrine AGAINST SOME Glowing Opposition Among Neighbours Ministers And Others Printed in the Year 1700. A DEFENCE OF THE Foregoing Doctrine Against some glowing Opposition among Neighbours Ministers c. PART I. HAVING for avoiding the offence of good Men drawn up a Confession of my Faith and sent it abroad for the satisfaction of some that were overmuch concerned at my delivery of something which disgusted them in my preaching A Friend of mine transcribed and sent the same Confession to one that goes under the Name of an Antimonian Preacher what he hath that name for I know not whom he knew with others of his professed who Friends had been hot against me This being received he whether with others I know not took himself so far concerned as that some time after whether by his doing or no I cannot tell there came forth in his Name a Manuscript consisting of 27 Articles of his Faith and at the back of those 25 Interrogatives or Queries all which were intended in opposition to me though not by him sent directly and immediately to me I thought sometimes it would not be worth the while to meddle with such matter but finding my Name so frequently made use of by him and the Doctrine I had preached and writ even scorned and derided I thought it no less than duty for the good of others i. e. for their better information in the truths of the Gospel to take a little notice of and animadvert a little upon some of the Articles of his Faith In the first place 1. I believe saith he first that the Justification and Salvation of poor sinners had its beginning and rise in God's eternal purpose of love and grace Answer I deny not God's eternal purpose of love and grace but I am far from thinking that any were justified from eternity if that be intended by him in this Article and that there is no such thing I have shewn above And though God had an eternal purpose of love and grace yet know God purposed to justifie and save none but by Jesus Christ I do not believe that God did decree the justifying or saving of any sinner without Christ 2. I believe saith he that God in his eternal purpose and counsel secret to us hath freely from the good pleasure of his will chosen a certain number of Persons to Salvation without respect to foreseen Faith Repentance or any other work whatsoever as a condition of the grace of Election I grant that neither Faith nor Repentance nor any other work foreseen were the Impulsive or moving causes of God's choice of any the Impeller being only God's free love and good pleasure but then that God did chuse to bring any to Salvation who live under the Gospel I speak of the Adult without Faith Repentance and sincere Obedience this I deny 3. I believe saith he that in order to the manifesting and bringing forth of the eternal purpose of grace and love for the Salvation of the Elect a Covenant of Grace was made past and agreed upon between God the Father and God the Son in the early morning of eternity c. I grant the Covenant of Redemption or Mediation had respect unto the Salvation of sinners and so the making of it with Christ was of Grace to them but it was not a Covenant of Grace and Mercy with him as Man's Mediatour who was by virtue of this Covenant to fulfill the Law and satifie God's Justice God indeed deals with sinners in a way of Grace and Mercy for Christ's satisfaction and Merit but he did not deal in a way of Mercy and Grace with his Son as our Mediatour but in a way of strict justice Here observe he confounds the Covenant of Redemption with the Covenant of Grace 4. Saith he I believe that this Covenant is a free immutable and everlasting Covenant that stands fast in Christ with whom it was made and in whom all the conditions of it are found I grant if he speak of the Covenant of Mediation and Redemption made betwixt the Father and the Son it was freely made on the part of both confederates i. e. the Father and the Son and that Christ is the only performer of what was required on his part in this Covenant But I do not think that Christ is bound unchangeably and everlastingly by this Covenant to be fulfilling the Law in a state of humiliation and suffering of death upon the Cross c. and therefore as to Christ's performing the conditions of this Covenant it was not immutable and everlasting though as to the benefits and blessed fruits thereof the enjoyment of which constitute everlasting happiness it will be granted him it is so we do not deny but affirm the Covenant of Mediation was betwixt the Father and the Son from before all time But then that those Texts he alledgeth 2 Sam. 23. 5. Hebr. 13. 20. Ezek. 37. 26. Do speak of this Covenant of Mediation betwixt the Father and Christ this cannot nor must not be granted him seeing they speak of a distinct Covenant from that i. e. the Covenant of grace betwixt God and his People as is express and if he should say this cannot be because of the term everlasting which is the Adjunct of this Covenant and there could not be a Covenant made betwixt God and his People from everlasting distinct from that which was made with Christ because they only have a being in time I Answer it was agreed upon from everlasting betwixt the Father and the Son that for the satisfaction of Christ Sinners should have Pardon and Life upon a practical Faith i. e. a Faith as I have before shewed inclusive both of Repentance and sincere Obedience for all the chosen of God were given to Christ in his purpose from eternity to be brought in time to glory in this way and upon these terms and so in this respect the Covenant is everlasting
and therefore by Divines hath been called the Covenant of Mediation or Redeâ—â—tion Let this Man or any for him that can prove that Christ took upon himself the Office of Mediatour and Redeemer without the Fathers designation and his own consent I still grant that his Covenant was made for us i. e. with a design to procure our Redemption and Salvation yea and the means whereby we might in time be actual partakers But then to tell of such a Covenant being made with us in Christ must bring us under the same obligation with Christ and what the consequence of this would be Persons may see if they will but open one of their eyes And that there is a Covenant made betwixt God and those that are his People distinct from this Covenant made with Christ besides expresâ— Scripture is evident from Christ's being the Mediatour of the Covenant Now was Christ a Mediatour of a Covenant made with himself or with Believers did he not mediate for reconciliation and was he to be the party reconciled or that stood in need of reconciliation or Sinners Is there any Covenant or none sâ—aled in Baptism and the Lords Supper if there be it is a Covenant sealed to Christ or to Believers if to Believers how then can Christ be a party in that Covenant which is not sealed to him but others They urge that Text as the main proof that the Covenant of grace was made with Christ i. e. Galat. 3 16. Now to Abraham and his Seed were the promises made He saith not And to his Seeds as of many but as of one And to thy Seed which is Christ Our Divines say not Christ personally but Christ mystical is to be understood in in this place But however grant we that Christ personal be meant let us see if it will afford them what they will needs have God promiseth to Abraham and to his Seed Genesis 12. 3. and 22. 18. that in them all the Families and Nations of the Earth should be blessed How blessed in Abraham and his Seed Well as Christ according to the Flesh should proceed from him and his Seed by 〈◊〉 through whom Abraham's blessing i. e. of God's beâ—ng a God to him and to his Seed might come upon the Gentiles and thus God would have a covenanted People among the Gentiles as well as among the Jews which covenanted People both of Jews and Gentiles should be Christ's Seed both as purchased by him for this purpose and regenerated and converted by his word and Holy Spirit Now saith the Apostle the promises of this sort were not made to Abraham and his natural Seed such as should proceed from him and his immediate Seed Isaac as though for and in them as such all the families and nations of the Earth should be thus blessed no but to Christ the seed of the Woman the principal promised seed the Saviour of the World that through and for him this blessing of Abraham of having God to be his God and the God of his seed might come upon the Gentiles which Exposition of the Text fitly agrees with those promises made to Christ as Redeemer Psalm 2. 7 8. I will declare the decree the Lord hath said unto me Thou art my Son this day have I begotten thee Ask of me and I shall give thee the heathen for thine inheritance and the uttermost parts of earth for thy possession And he shall see his seed and he shall see of the travail of his Soul and Isa 55. 5. Behold thou shalt call a nation that thou knowest not and nations that knew thee shall run unto thee because of the Lord thy God and for the holy one of Israel for he hath glorified thee Let it now be considered whether it be rightly concluded from this Text that the Covenant of grace is made with Christ and not with Believers through and for him And whereas he puts the Question further Hath God properly made any more Covenants than two for 〈◊〉 and Life commonly called the Covenant of Works and the Covenant of Grace I Answer I do not say that God made any more Covenants with Man but two i. e. the Covenant of Works and the Covenant of Grace the one respecting Man in his state of Integrity the other in his lapsed or fallen condition but from hence it doth not follow that there was no Covenant made with Christ distinct from both these peculiaâ—â— him as Mediatour respecting his redeeming work But now with this Man 's good leave if the Covenant of Grace be made with Christ then God never made any more Covenants than one with Man i. e. the Covenant of Works and thus no believer must be in Covenant with God unless he be under the Covenant of Works which indeed his Doctrine if he understood it tends to in that he would have a legal righteousness to be the justifying matter of his Person I mean a Righteousness adequate to the Law of Innocency so that in his account such a righteousness must be the formal righteousness of his Person and if so he must be under the Law according to his own notion as a Covenant of Works If Adam had performed the conditions of the Covenant of Works as he once had power undoubtedly life would have been continued unto him hereupon but now to say such a Covenant was made with him for Salvation sounds harsh for Salvation properly supposeth a Person is or hath been in misery or in an actual danger of perishing And was Adam's case such when God struck this Covenant with him But he hath yet one Question more which is this Q. 25. But wherein saith he doth such an one naming me in his supposed large acknowledgment of free grace and imputation exceed or ascribe more to the grace of God and merits of Christ than Bishop Gardiner doth in those ten positions which he endeavours to maintain against those worthy Martys of Jesus Christ Barnes Hierome and Garret who sealed the contrary Doctrine with their dearest blood This same Man in this hath reference to those six particulars according to which I affirm the Righteousness of Christ is imputed And therefore Reader I here give thee thâ—se ten 〈◊〉 of Gardiners of which he speaks and then again the six particulars in which I acknowledge Christ's Righteousness to be imputed and shall leave thee according to Scripture to consider both parts nay to consider the things themselves so as to judge whether what I affirm in this matter be the same 〈◊〉 what Gardiner saith Winchester's Articles 1. THE effâ—ct â—f Christ's passion hath a condition the fulfilling of the condition diminisheth nothing the effect of Christ's passion If he meant by the effect of Christ's passion Pardon and Life puâ—chased thereby and that these have a condition of connection and order as I have explained above he saith no more but what this Man hath granted himself But if he intend by condition any thing that in its own nature is meritorious of such
though I be by Office a teacher of others yet I am but a disciple my self and desire further and further instruction from my great Master and if it appear that it is his I hope I shall take it let the Instrument be what it will that he is pleased to make use of If any shall be offended because the work is not so accurate nor in such a fine dress as they think it should have been I must tell them I did not study to please such but my aim was the information and edification of those who desire more sound knowledge for practice than the subtilty of wit or the sound of words to please the â—ar And therefore if this of mine will not please because it wants the dress they desire they are at liberty to let it alone and cook and dress something for themselves and their own guests of this nature and serve it up in a dish in which it may be more grateful and go better off And whereas Readers you may meet with the repetition of some things know it was not with a design to fill up Paper or make a great deal of a little but because many things did occur which did require it seeing that many Persons will scarce take the pains to look back to what they have had though I have put them upon it in several parts of this work And my request to you Readers whosoever you be is that you will not content your selves with the notion of truth it is good in it self yea and it is necessary to have your judgments as clear and sound as may be but know if this be all you are but passing for all your light towards utter darkness Christian practice according to knowledge and the increase thereof is the life of the matter he that knows his Master's will and doth it not shall be beaten with many stripes For a Man to have a head full of light so that he can both discourse of and defend the truths of God and yet have an heart stuffed with pride hypocrisie formality love of the World desires after its profits preferments and honours and a life alienated from the life of God living in 〈◊〉 formity to this vain World a stranger to a Spiritual and 〈◊〉 venly conversation alas this light will but prove an ◠〈…〉 â— tion of his condemnation whatever light of the truth any Man hath that makes him not more holy humble and heavenâ—y in heart and life unites him not more to God in Christ makes not Christ more pretious and this world with all the fading enjoyments of it of a small value compared therewith and is not improved by a close walking with God according to the rule of his word this his knowledge though good in it self yet it is unprofitable for him Such an acquaintance with God in Christ by the Holy Spirit from the word as enricheth a Soul with experience of God's favour which is life and his loving kindness which is better than life and so excites and quickens love to God desire after him delight in him through Christ as that such a Soul resolves to follow God and adhere to him by faith in self-denial and crucifiction to this World for all the trials and matter of discouragement it meets with this this is the Soul which hath that knowledge of God in Christ which is life eternal begun John 17. 3. And this is life eternal that they might know thee the only true God and Jesus Christ whom thou hast sent Sirs Converse with God through Christ by the Holy Spirit in all his ordinances is that which I beseech you be concerned for and though some deride this yet know that all your devotion is to no purpose if you live and die strangers to it for why well it is but cold formal and customary without it it is not a living but a dead service in which persons are and continue unacquainted what converse with the living God means that God who is the Infinite Ocean of good through Jesus Christ And though it is true there is not the like sensible enjoyment of God's quickening presence at all times yet it is that which a Child of God desires and cannot content himself without and therefore when he waits upon God and finds it not so as he desires this is an affliction unto him for this is that which he values before and which glads his Soul above the best of Creature confluences when it is enjoyed Psalm 4. 6 7. There be many that say who will shew us any good Lord life thou up the light of thy countenance upon us Thou hast put gladness in my heart more than in the time that their corn and their wine encreased These lower things are but insipid and unsavory compared where this is enjoyed Know therefore upon the matter whoever they aâ—e that deny communion with God they must at the same time deny that there is any such thing as a superlative love of God for if they will grant this then there must be communion seeing that which any Man loves above and before all other things his heart cannot but be united unto and 〈◊〉 his thoughts will with the greatest sweerness be exerâ—â—spamâ—â— upon it and his desires work warmly after it if absent and his chief delight be in it if present and enjoyed and is not here communion and thus it must be where there is a superlative love to God which undoubtedly is in the heart of every true Christian and so both union and communion In a word Sirs consider your all of good is from God through Christ by the Spirit from the Father as the â—ountain through the Son as the purchaser by the Spirit as the principal applier and worker nothing of good is from your selves purchased and merited by your selves or by you wrought in your selves Keep humble then admire and adore the love grace and mercy of the Trinity of Persons in the unity of the Godâ—head in all the good you receive and enjoy and say of thine own we have received and of thine own we give thee back again And in the work and way of sincere constant obedience to God's commands according to your vow and promise in Baptism look by faith unto and plead the satisfactory and meritorious Righteousness of Christ for the acceptation of all your duties which retains and will do its mediating virtue for which be you ever ever ever thankful Coloss 3. 17. And whatsover ye do in word or deed do all in the Name of the Lord Jesus giving thanks to God and the Father by him If this be your practice which the Doctrine I have delivered and have been vindicating in these few sheets directs to you will find the blessed fruit of it through and for our blessed Mediatour And though Men of a contray mind set themselves to oppose judging themselves hereby wise enough already and not only so but reproach such as will not make their measure their Rule as proud conceited and self righteous Persons who make light of Christ's Righteousness and accounting themselves and such as are on their part the only grave serious humble Christians I mean these that do thus oppose yet let not uâ— render evil for evil but earnestly desire of God that these Meâ— may be found such as they account themselves to be And thaâ— none of us through our abuse of light may be found such proud conceited Pharisaical Persons as these Men have passed the doom I am sure if we do the Doctrine will not be in the fault for iâ— hath a contrary tendency as hath been shewn Heb. 10 20 21 Now the God of peace that brought again from the dead our Lorâ— Jesus that great Shepherd of the Sheep through the blood of thâ— everlasting Covenant Make you perfect in every good work to 〈◊〉 will working in you that which is well pleasing in his sight througâ— Jesus Christ to whom be glory for ever and ever Amen FINIS
by us as that we oppose them more than any of our Adversaries who account themselves such great Antipapists yea and are further of from the Papists herein than they for upon the principles our Adversaries go in the point it cannot be avoided but they make that Law which injoins perfect sinless Works which as such condemns us all to be God's Instrument whereby he justifies seeing that they say the matter of their personal justifying Righteousness not only meriting but qualifying or else they oppose not us observe that must be that which is every way perfect in the sense of the violated Law of Innocency And indeed were we to be justified by that Law we must say the same with them So that let any Man who is not altogether prejudiced against the cause judge whether those Men be not much nearer the Papists in this point than such as they charge to be one with them for the Reverend Persons named above and others with them proceed in this point upon another Principle then either the Papists or such as profess to be their Adversaries holding God's Covenant or Law of Grace to be the rule of judgment and so the Instrument by which God doth justifie us or that by which God doth justifie for the sake of Christ's satisfactory and meritoriorious Righteousness when by the Grace of God we are conformed thereunto which Conformity consists in a turn from Sin and an unfeigned consent sincerely to be Obedient unto Christ and his Law to our Lives end upon which God doth account or reckon us Righteous in the sense of the Gospel and so such who have that right unto and interest in Christ which impenitent and disobedient Souls have not and this for the Righteousness sake of Christ as I have sufficiently proved And whereas Readers some Persons would bear you in hand that we give Repentance and Faith the place Office and use of Christ's Righteousness and look to be justified only by this as inherent 't is either an Ignorant or Malicious slander for we say that although the Lord Jesus hath satisfied offended Justice and merited all saving priviledges yet we can neither have peace with God nor right to Christ nor his purchased benefits nor be accepted of God through Christ until we be qualified with that Grace the Gospel requires which Grace doth not give us the right in its own Nature or as it is inherent but as God accounts and reckons it to do so that is as he imputes it for Righteousness The Papists place Justification in the Infusion We in the Imputation Whatever you hear therefore from Adversaries or read in any Books that is or shall be an indeavour to prove these forementioned Persons or others of their mind to be one with the Papists in the point of Justification you may assure your selves 't is nothing but a slander and the slanderers are nearer themselves in the point to the Papists until they have fully proved that we whom they abuse do hold the four particulars I have mentioned above which I am sure they cannot do so long as they have a Tongue to speak with and if they cannot all their attempts against us are in vain and not to be regarded for if they do not this they do nothing to invalidate our Doctrine and therefore I desire you Readers to observe this that if any Answer be made to mine that you will see whether in the pretended Answer it be proved that I hold the four things above mentioned and if you find they prove not that which they are not like you may assure your selves their Answer is none M. S. An Advertisement WHereas the Author of this Book seems warm against the Righteousness of Christ being the formal cause of our Justification and argues that if it be so then it must be the Believer's proper personal Righteousness which those Divines who say that Christ and the Believer do so coaless into one Person that his Righteousness is transferred to them upon that account must assert and if it be his personal Righteousness his Person being not seperable from his Nature which is himself then he must be the subject of Christ's Righteousness and consequently it must be inherent in him as the subject thereof the candid Reader is to observe First That he drives the Argument thus home for conviction only of his Adversaries who know that Imputed and Inherent is a Contradiction Secondly That he understands well they need no driving to a concession that his Righteousness therefore is not and cannot be the Believer's Physically but they say Legally only and by Imputation nevertheless so long as they say it is imputed so as to be his formal Righteousness the Absurdity remains Thirdly That to hold Christ's Righteousness to be the Believer's or accounted his legally or in a Law-sense so as God looks on him as having fulfilled all Righteousness in Christ as our legal Person is that Doctrine which Mr. Baxter hath set himself to oppose in all his Books as such which subverts the Gospel and he that will go about to maintain it must Answer his Arguments which I suppose cannot be done by any Lastly That if the more Judicious of his Adversaries would consider a little more of the matter and come to be content with such an Imputation of Christ's Obedience as answers the End of his performance of it which is that upon our believing Men shall enjoy the benefits then would they soon find out the right knowledge how to give a fair construction of what is said by former Divines who agreeing in this that there is indeed an Imputation of Christ's Righteousness to the Believers but because it is not express in Scripture they not considering or mentioning any such distinction are misconstrued to understand an Imputation in se when there is indeed or can be no such but Quoad fructus aut Effectus only By the Hand unknown aforesaid THE TRUE NOTION OF Imputed Righteousness AND OUR Justification thereby c. SECT I. The Subject Matter proposed SEeing the apprehensions of Persons are so different about the Doctrine and Nature of Justification and so much depends upon the having a right notion hereof At the intreaty of some of my Friends for their satisfaction and for the benefit of others I shall God assisting with all possible plainness declare my Sentiments in this particular 1. I do believe that by and through the satisfactory and meritorious Righteousness of our Redeemer the Lord Jesus Christ a Covenant of Grace hath been purchased for and granted by God unto sinners after they by their sin had violated or broken that Law which injoined perfect sinless works and thereby made themselves incapable of performing obedience to that Law which at the first it required as a condition of life and so of having Justification thereby Heb. 12. 24. Christ is called the Mediatour of the new Covenant and that because he hath purchased by his death a grant of pardon and life by
Innocency that is a righteousness but faith is no such righteousness Conformity to the Gospel or Law of Grace that is a righteousness and faith is this righteousness it is a conformity unto the Gospel command John 3. 23. And this is his commandment that we should believe on the Name of his Son Jesus Christ and love one another as he gave commandment And it is expresly said to be counted for righteousness in the 4th of the Romans Therefore if there be no righteousness but what is a conformity to the Law of Innocency so indeed faith is no righteousness seeing it is not a conformity to that Law and thus the Antecedent would be true but know there is a righteousness which is a conformity to the Gospel Law and faith is this righteousness seeing it is a conformity to this Law And thus the Antecedent appears to be false and so the Consequent 2. Say they Faith is not our personal justifying righteousness because it is a work I Answer This Argument supposeth that there is no Justification by a personal righteousness and if no Justification by a personal righteousness then there must be no such thing as a Justification of any Person at all for if there be a Justification by a personal righteousness then there must be Justification by a work for to tell of Justification by a personal righteousness and yet also to tell that there is no such thing as Justification by any work is to say that there is a Justification by a personal righteousness and there is not a Justification by a personal righteousness because no Justification by any work than which nothing can be more absurd But it may be said there is no such thing as Justification by a personal righteousness of our own I Answer To tell of a personal righteousness and yet say it is not mine after any sort is as much as to say a personal righteousness and not a personal righteousness which still is a manifest contradiction for how can I be personally righteous with a righteousness that is not mine after some sort Yes it may be it will be said Christ's righteousness whereby we are justified is our own by Imputation If so then God accounts it to be the righteousness of your Persons or how can your Persons be justified by it And if God account it to be the righteousness of your Persons then he must account you in your own Persons to be conformed to some Law hereby or else how should Justification as all that call themselves Protestants confess be a juridical or Law act And can you be conformed in your own Persons to a Law without a work We are you may say conformed to the Law in our own Persons by the work and obedience of another i. e. Christ to that Law This now is as much as to say that you are conformed to the Law in your own Persons without any personal conformity still contradiction Well but Christ's personal conformity to the Law is reckoned by God in our Justification to be our personal conformity if so then God must account you to be perfect fulfillers of the Law and if God do this he must account you also to be performers of the obedience that Law calls for or he cannot account you fulfillers After all this now here is the mistery still you will deny that you are justified by a Covenant of Works or by any work accounted by God to be your own Here is the Riddle look who can unfold it so that plain it is some Persons will not have Faith to be a justifying righteousness because it is a work and yet they themselves according to their own notion must and do hold Justification by perfect legal works which are excluded from Justification by the Holy Scripture while it speaks expresly of Justification by Faith as hath been shewn above Well but we are not justified by any works subjectively in us or done by us I Answer you say they are yours by Imputation and if so God must account them not only to be done by you but to be subjectively in you for if God do account me to have personally done this or the other which he must do if he impute what Christ hath done to me and so account his obedience to be my formal personal righteousness he must account me to be or to have been the subject of that work Actiones sunt suppositorum but this I have cleared above But why will they not admit of Faith as justifying righteousness because it is a work I suppose they think it would occasion boasting now the Scripture speaks far otherwise The Holy Spirit in it saith where all is received of free gift there is no ground for boasting and sure I am nothing is more express than Faith to be freely given And the Apostle is express that boasting is excluded by the Law of Faith or that Law which commands Faith in Christ and if by the Law of Faith then by Faith it self where it is for true Faith where it is 't is of that nature as to set the Crown wholly upon Christ's Head and keep the Soul that hath it low and humble But now as to the other Law i. e. the Law of perfect sinless works such works as have no Sin attends them if we seek for Justification by a righteousness which is a conformity thereunto here is a foundation for boasting and that because if I be justified by it I must merit and deserve in my own Person Life by my conformity thereunto and so the merit of another must be wholly excluded this is that now which some Persons do not take heed unto when they say that Gospel works such as Faith in the matter of Justification I mean the qualifying matter lays a foundation for boasting they should prove before they can have ground for their Assertion that Faith hath a purchasing meritorious efficacy but this they do not nor cannot For though Adam had what he had both of Moral and Natural integrity by the grace of Creation yet had he continued to have yielded conformity to the Law of Innocency he might have boasted in this and depended upon it as a righteousness which would have merited and deserved the continuance of Life for him Persons may be high pretenders to exalt Christ and his righteousness but if they will have a righteousness which is a conformity to the Law of Innocency to be their personal justifying righteousness they must have a personal meritorious righteousness and these must open a wide door for boasting But if Persons will have Justification by Faith as a personal Gospel righteousness to give them right which is for this constituted by God for Christ's Merits this wholly excludes all boasting as to the having a personal righteousness that is in it self or in its own nature satisfying and meriting and thus Christ and the grace of God in him in a Sinner's Justification and Salvation is exalted This Law of Faith is
the account of that forgiveness and so Pardon of Sin should be a condition of it self and be in order of Nature before it self which I know not how to free from a contradiction 4. They differ in the different formality of the Subject to which they do relate for the Law of Grace in justifying considers Persons as conformed to its commands and upon that accounts them through and for Christ righteous but in pardoning it considers them previously as transgressors though yet as those who have right to Pardon by reason of their Conformity through Grace unto its Precepts and therefore for Christ's sake assures them of Pardon hereupon for upon Confession and forsaking of Sin and turning unto the Lord God by his gracious Promise assures us of Pardon And that the Gospel Law in pardoning doth previously consider the Person as a transgressor appears for asmuch as it Pardons not only such as have right to Pardon but those who have need of it and who have need but such as before Pardon are altogether in a special sort unpardoned transgressors 5. There is a difference betwixt Justification and Pardon as touching the Moral Efficiency of the Law of Grace justifying and pardoning for in the one it asserts a Person 's right but in the other it conveys that which it asserted his right unto These things being laid together and duly considered to me 't is evident that Justification and Pardon cannot be the same nor yet that Pardon can be our justifying Righteousness but a special benefit immediately following our Justification But it may be said Condemnation and Justification are opposed and therefore as Condemnation consists in the Laws Sentence of a Sinner to punishment so Justification must consist in acquitting the Sinner by Law Sentence from punishment and if so Is not here Pardon and if Pardon Then must not Justifi-fication consist in Pardon 1. I Answer First Justification and Condemnation are opposed materially for as the matter of Justification must be a Righteousness so the merit of Condemnation must be Unrighteousness or thus the matter of Justification must be Conformity to a Law the merit of Condemnation must be the violation of that Law 2. They are opposed in the different account of the Law for whom the Law Condemns them it accounts Guilty But whom it Justifies those it accounts Righteous But now though Justification and Condemnation be thus opposed yet it doth not follow that what is the form of the one the contrary to that is the form of the other or it doth not follow that as Condemnation consists in bearing the Laws Sentence to Punishment so Justification in acquitting from Punishment Indeed all justified Persons are most certainly acquitted but Justification in its own nature is not an acquitment Pardon and Condemnation are thus formally opposed but not Justification and Condemnation But it may be said further must he not be innocent who is acquitted and is not every innocent Person righteous I Answer an acquitment implies the Person who is now acquitted was once guilty of that from which he is now acquitted and so by Innocent here can only be meant one that is discharged from deserved punishment and such an one is clear indeed but then this his clearing doth imply a right by some pardoning act or act of Grace Every justified person is discharged from the Condemnation of the Law or the Execution of the Law 's Sentence but then this discharge implies a previous Righteousness not for which but upon which he is accounted to have right to that discharge and without which he might not have it for he that believes not is condemned and the wrath of God abides upon him so then a Person is righteous formally by this previous Righteousness and not by his discharge for that is only as is plain the immediate fruit of his Righteousness SECT VIII How our right to Pardon and Life is through Christ and how he is our Surety and hath procured the New Covenant for us I Come now to shew that it is through Christ that Sinners have right to Pardon and Life upon believing and it is through Christ in a double regard In regard to a Ransom paid and Covenant obtained It is through Christ in the first place as having paid the Ransom for Sinners Redemption Matth. 20. 28. Even as the Son of Man came not to be ministred unto but to minister and to give his life a ransom for many 1 Tim. 2. 5 6. For there is one God and one Mediatour between God and Men the Man Christ Jesus Who gave himself a ransom for all to be testified in due time We are all by Nature Sin 's Slaves Satan's Captives loving the World and the things of the World cursed and condemned by the Law being Transgressors liable to the intollerable wrath of an Almighty God Christ paid a sufficient Ransom by his Obedience and Sufferings From the power and dominion of Sin Titus 2. 14. Who gave himself for us that he might redeem us from all iniquity and purifie unto himself a peculiar People zealous of good works From the thraldom of Satan Coloss 2. 15. And having spoiled principalities and powers he made a shew of them openly triumphing over them in it Heb. 2. 14. Forasmuch then as the Children are partakers of flesh and blood he also himself likewise took part of the same that through death he might destroy him that had the power of death that is the Devil From this present evil World Galat. 1. 4. Who gave himself for our sins that he might deliver us from this present evil world according to the will of God and our Father From the Curse of the violated Law Galat. 3. 13. Christ hath redeemed us from the curse of the Law being made a curse for us for it is written Cursed is every one that hangeth on a tree From the wrath of an offended God This ransom paid by Christ gave such satisfaction to an offended God as that he deals with none of the Sons and Daughters of Men now upon terms of the violated Law of works but is so far through this satisfaction given reconciled as that he grants them a reprieve from Hell and much riches of goodness and mercy to lead them to repentance yea and reveals himself further willing in a saving manner to be at peace with and reconciled unto Sinners upon their subjection to the Gospel Law who have the explicit offer And this satisfaction given by Christ's sufferings was no strict fulfilling of the Law threat but a fulfilling the Law of Mediation or Redemption for the Soul that sinned was to die though for the satisfaction given by Christ a stop was put to the execution of the Law threat When Persons say that the satisfaction Christ gave by his sufferings was a fulfilling of the threatning part of the Law of Innocency which Man had broken 't is a great mistake for in what was threatned by the Law was included corporal distempers and
will answer that law or be accepted by that law or that that law will justifie us upon that Obedience No no for it is only the obedience of Christ that answers that law removes the Curse of it and merits Pardon for our breach of it but the meaning is that whereas God might in justice after Man's wilful fall have insisted upon the very terms of that law which was violated he was pleased in his abundant free grace and rich mercy for the sake of Christ to declare by the new Covenant that now he would accept of the sincere Obedience of poor Sinners and account them Subjects united to Christ and as such having right through him to Pardon and Life which is his justifying of them Now because not only such as profess themselves Socinians but also those that pretend to be Enemies unto them do deny the Covenant of Grace to be purchased by Christ exclaiming against me at a great rate and saying O he is wrong in the very foundation he holds Christ hath merited the Covenant of Grace when it is only the free gift of the Father I judge it a fit place under this head a little more fully to correct the Socinian Spirit in these Men who yet know not it is any such thing that they are in the least possest with and this by clear proof from Scripture that Christ hath purchased this Covenant That then which constitutes the Covenant of Grace betwixt God and Man is God's gracious promise on his part of the gift of saving benefits to Man and Man's engagement on his part through the grace of God to perform all that which may give him right unto and interest in the promised benefits Now if I prove from Scripture that there is no saving benefit which God promiseth to give unto Man nor yet any grace which is required of Man to give him right unto and interest in these benefits but Christ hath purchased them I hope I shall sufficiently have discharged my province in proving the Covenant of Grace to be purchased by Christ 1. In the first place let us consider the benefits that by God are promised or offered in the Promise to Man and as we go along prove that they are purchased by Christ 1. God promiseth Justification Isa 45. 25. In the Lord shall all the seed of Israel be justified and shall glory Christ hath purchased Justification Rom. 5. 8. 9. But God commendeth his love towards us in that while we were yet sinners Christ died for us Much more then being now justified by his blood we shall be saved from wrath through him 2. God promiseth reconciliation and peace Isa 27. 5. Or let him take hold of my strength that he may make peace with me and he shall make peace with me Christ hath purchased this Rom. 5. 10. For if when we were enemies we were reconciled to God by the death of his Son much more being reconciled we shall be saved by life Colos 1. 21 22. And you that were sometimes alienated and enemies in your mind by wicked works yet now hath he reconciled In the body of his flesh through death to present you holy and unblameable and unreproveable in his sight 3. God promiseth remission of Sin Isa 43. 25. I even I am he that blotteth out thy transgressions for mine own sake and will not remember thy sins And this is purchased by Christ Matth. 26. 28. For this is my blood of the New Testament which is shed for many for the remission of sins Ephes 1. 7. In whom we have redemption through his blood according to the riches of his grace 4. God promiseth Redemption Psalm 34. 22. The Lord redeemeth the Soul of his servants and none of them that trust in him shall be desolate Christ hath purchased this Redemption from Sin Titus 2. 14. Who gave himself for us that he might redeem us from all iniquity and purifie unto himself a peculiar People zealous of good works From Hell and wrath 1 Thes 1. 10. And to wait for his Son from Heaven whom he raised from the dead even Jesus who delivered us from the wrath to come From the Curse and Condemnation of the violated Law Galat. 3. 13. Christ hath redeemed us from the curse of the Law being made a curse for us for it is written Cursed is every one that hangeth on a tree From the power of the Devil Heb. 2. 14. Forasmuch then as the Children are partakers of flesh and blood he also himself likewise took part of the same that through death he might destroy him that had the power of death that is the Devil 5. God promiseth Adoption 2 Corinth 6. 17 18. Wherefore come out from among them and be ye separate saith the Lord and touch not the unclean thing and I will receive you And will be a Father unto you and ye shall be my Sons and Daughters saith the Lord Almighty And this is by Christ merited Galat. 4. 5. To redeem them that were under the Law that we might receive the adoption of Sons 6. God promiseth Eternal Life John 3. 16. For God so loved the world that he gave his only begotten Son that whosoever believeth in him should not perish but have everlasting life Christ hath purchased this Ephes 1. 14. Which is the earnest of our Inheritance until the redemption of the purchased possession unto the praise of his glory Rom. 5. 21. That as sin hath reigned unto death even so might grace reign through righteousness unto eternal life by Jesus Christ our Lord. This I have proved that the rich benefits promised by God which are his part of the Covenant are purchased by Christ I will proceed to prove also that what Grace is required of Man to give him right to and interest in these benefits of the Covenant is purchased by Christ 1. We cannot have right to nor interest in any of the above mentioned benefits without Repentance for without Repentance we must perish Luke 13. 3. I tell you Nay but except ye repent ye shall all likewise perish Christ hath purchased this Acts 5. 31. Him hath God exalted with his right hand to be a Prince and a Saviour for to give repentance to Israel and forgiveness of sins And for certain Christ gives nothing but what he hath purchased or the Spirit for this end to work it 2. We cannot have right to nor interest in any of the above mentioned benefits without Faith he that believes not the wrath of God abideth on him Now Christ hath purchased this Philip. 1. 29. For unto you it is given in the behalf of Christ not only to believe on him but also to suffer for his sake 3. We cannot have right to nor interest in any of the above mentioned benefits without sincere Obedience which is virtually included in our first consent to be the Lord's Heb. 5. 9. And being made perfect he became the Author of eternal Salvation unto all them that obey him And this
Christ hath purchased Titus 2. 14. Who gave himself for us that he might redeem us from all iniquity and purifie unto himself a peculiar People zealous of good Works This I have also proved that what is required on our part Christ hath also purchased and if Christ have purchased all that which constitutes the Covenant i. e. God's gracious promises and grace to enable us to perform the duties required to give us a right to and interest in the above mentioned benefits then let the Reader judge whether he be of the foundation that holds Christ hath purchased the Covenant or he that denies it It is through Christ furthermore that Souls have right to Pardon and Life upon true Faith as God upon the account of his Meritorious Righteousness and all prevailing Intercession communicates still further and further aids of Grace for Believers perseverance As Faith and Repentance are required by the Gospel to our initial Justification or right to Christ and the benefits of Pardon and Life through him so perseverance in Grace is required to our continued and final Justification He that endureth to the end the same shall be saved And Christ hath merited persevering Grace John 10. 10. The thief cometh not but for to steal and to kill and to destroy I am come that they might have Life and that they might have it more abundantly Ephes 5. 25 26 27. Husbands love your Wives even as Christ also loved the Church and gave himself for it That he might sanctifie and cleanse it with the washing of water by the word That he might present it to himself a glorious Church not having spot or wrinkle or any such thing but that it should be holy and without blemish Heb. 2. 19. For it became him for whom are all things and by whom are all things in bringing many Sons unto glory to make the Captain of their Salvation perfect through sufferings From what hath been said we shall Observe That none of Mankind now can be accounted righteous and so have Justification by the Law that injoins sinless perfect Works for if so we must in the account of the Law be sinless and perfectly righteous And if so it must either be by having such a Righteousness of our own but this cannot be there being no meer Man that hath such a sinless perfect Righteousness of his own as this Law requires or Secondly It must be by having such a Righteousness of anothers but this cannot be for there is no Righteousness of another that can answer the Law of Innocent Nature but Christ's and this Law neither doth nor can account us sinless and perfectly righteous with Christ's Righteousness for if it should or could account us perfectly righteous by accounting the Righteousness of Christ in it self to be ours or accounting us perfectly to have obeyed and fulfilled it in Christ's Obedience It must account us to be thus righteous either absolutely or upon performance of some condition by it required If upon the performance of some condition it must either be the condition it required of sinless Man which is personal perfect and perpetual Obedience and if we could perform this we should not need Christ's Righteousness at all for there had been no necessity of Christ's Righteousness if Man had continued to have performed a personal perfect Righteousness or it must be upon the performance of the condition of a sincere Repentance and Faith But the Law of Innocent Nature reveals not and therefore cannot prescribe such a condition upon the performance of which it will account us perfectly righteous through or by Christ's Righteousness for if it did 't is evident there would have been no need of God's publishing the new Covenant or of promulgating the Gospel If it account us to be thus righteous absolutely without any condition at all then it either accounts all Mankind to be perfectly righteous by Christ's perfect Obedience or only some part of Mankind if it account all Mankind to be perfectly righteous through Christ's Righteousness then all must have Justification or a right to Life and none of Mankind must perish and if so then we must have universal Salvation If it account only some to be perfectly righteous with Christ's Righteousness then it must consider them either as Elect or non-elect if it do not consider them as Elect then the forementioned consequence is established If it consider them as Elect then the Law of Works must consider them as Sinners and so make provision for the Salvation of some and none for the Salvation of others that which I do not know any that will undertake to prove But if it should be granted that the Law of Innocent Nature absolutely without requiring any condition of them should account the Elect righteous upon Christ's perfect Obedience or fulfilling of it then it must follow that Christ's sufferings are a meer nullity and there is no need of them for if upon Christ's active Obedience the Law do account all the Elect sinless and perfectly righteous which it must do if it account them righteous personally with Christ's Righteousness and justifie them as such who have perfectly obeyed Christ's perfect Obedience then it cannot require suffering too seeing that it only calls for suffering in case it have not the actual Obedience it requires And it must follow further that there is no need of a Covenant of Grace nor Repentance and Faith commanded therein if the Law of sinless Works do account us perfectly righteous in Christ's perfect obeying it for us But none of these things can be as is plain if Persons will lay aside prejudice and consider And if so that cannot be sound and true which some have affirmed that Christ and we are one Legal Person or that Christ and Believers are one Person in Law Sense the Law accounting that what Christ did they did But it may be said when Persons become true Believers then the Law of Works 〈◊〉 them righteous with the Righteousness of Christ this is as much as to say the Law of Works justifies upon Persons performing of the condition of the Gospel and it knows nothing of nor doth it prescribe any such condition and so if it justifie it must justifie upon terms unknown and therefore unprescribed in it self and thus it is made a sort of a blind justifying Instrument SECT IX Faith described and explicated in order to our Justification by it HAving shewn how it is through Jesus Christ that God doth assert and will maintain our right to Pardon and Life I shall proceed to shew what Faith is which is the thing required to give us right John 3. 16. Acts 13. 39. Acts 16. 31. An acute Author gives us this Description of it 't is a believing acceptance of Christ a Saviour it is a short one but yet a full one for it implies First Assent Secondly Consent and Thirdly our resolved following of Christ in his way trusting and relying upon him whatever we meet withal First It
grace in truth and the exercise of it by which the glory of Christ is exalted and he rested in as the only Saviour and Mediatour for sure I am how high soever their pretences may be without true grace and fruitfulness in it they neither do nor can do that which they themselves pretend unto What some Men have been doing and what their thoughts are as to matters of this nature I shall leave only they seem strange to me for after I have affirmed that such as have the exercise of true Faith and other graces it is not possible while it is thus for them either to rest in Grace or Duty they in opposition have asserted that such Doctrine is the high way to make formalists and hypocrites but then you must know it was without proof and it was like to be so for sure I am that such as perform duties without true Faith and the exercise of Grace they have nothing wherewith to rest upon Christ or his Mediation and so must content themselves with the work done and these are and can be no other while it is thus but formalists and hypocrites What it is to some Persons I know not but to me it is a Paradox that true grace and sincere obedience should lead off from Christ and God in him and that Men should be in danger thereby while it is prevalent to degrade Christ and set up themselves it is just as if a Man should say such a Servant as is faithful diligent in his Master's service and very obedient his Master is in danger so long as he is such to be robbed of his due honour by him while yet the Master accounts it a credit and honour unto him to have such a Servant and loves him entirely and intrusts him with those secrets that he will not intrust with the rest though know the Servant doth but what he ought to do in all this And thus the best and most faithful of God's Servants after all they have done in God's service must account themselves unprofitable to God because they make no return of any thing unto him but what they first have received from him through Christ by the Holy good Spirit though observe where there is faithfulness they shall reap the profit for God will for Christ reward his own work in them and that which is done faithfully by them He that comes to God must believe that he is and that he is a rewarder of such as diligently seek him Eliphaz intimates Job 22. 2. that though no Man can be profitable to God yet a wise Man one that is spiritually wise saith Mr. Caryl may be profitable to himself And he hath this Observation upon the words He that is truly Wise Godly and Holy shall find fruit and benefit by it we car saith he never want fruit our selves while we are bringing forth fruit unto God all obedience i. e. which is sincere is attended with a blessing For my part with relation to what hath been said I do not think that any thing is accounted by God morally unclean and filthy but Sin and therefore must be yet to learn that sincere obedience to the commands of the Gospel is Sin if it be said as usual it is so as it is in us I Answer as it is in us so Sin attends it I grant as we are sinful and unclean in our selves and this Sin must needs be filthy and abominable but then that obedience which is the obedience of Faith and Love considered in it self as abstracted from our Sin that this I say is filthy and abominable I dare not affirm but indeed must deny for the principle must needs be the work of the Spirit and the performance must be by the Spirit 's assistance and as such then the obedience must be accepted of God Now how that which is a work of the Spirit and performed by the assistance of the Spirit and offered up to God by Christ through his intercession can be filthy and abominable in it self I shall leave under consideration whether is it rational to think that Christ will offer up to God by his intercession that which is filthy or suppose he should whether will God accept it But it will be said as before it is only filthy in point of Justification I Answer if it be not filthy in point of acceptation through Christ and for his sake it cannot be filthy in point of Justification so far as it hath its use and office there for will God accept that for the sake of Christ which he will not so far as he accepts it justifie us upon God accepts of a Soul 's sincere obedience which is the obedience of Faith through Christ as it his Spirit 's work and a Conformity to the Gospel Law now what is Gods acceptation but his being pleased with the Soul and its service through Christ which well pleasedness implies his judging that Soul to be one that hath right as it is a sincere obedient Soul still for Christ's merits to the blessings promised unto such and what is God's judging a Soul to have right but his justifying of that Soul It is very odd to hear some Persons in their confessions casting away all that is in them and all that is done by them in the special service of God though sincere as dung and yet profess they will rest and depend upon Christ's Intercession for the acceptation of that which they called and accounted dung as though Christ would offer up to God on their account by his intercession or that God would accept that which is as dung and so filthy and abominable in a moral sense And then further these very Persons in the same duty will thank God for any ground of hope he hath given of the truth of a work of Grace in their Hearts and the exercise of Grace in the Duty and the hopes they have had of the Spirits assistance and yet all this before in their confessions they cast away as dung I do believe many have meant well in all this and were for the main good Christians but plain it is matters were not so well considered as they should have been here Think of it we have all Sin to bewail which attends us in our best services and to crave pardon for through Christ but then so far as our Hearts are sound and sincere and we find the exercise of humiliation Faith and love to God in the performance of that service we have ground to believe it shall be accepted of God in Christ and therefore may depend upon his Mediation for this very thing being incouraged by God's gracious promise and if so we neither may nor ought to look upon such a service in it self to be dung and so an abomination to God Now the reason that some give for accounting our Gospel holiness dung is this i. e. because of its infirmity and imperfection This reason implies that all that Grace and Holiness which is not
a perfect conformity to the Law of Innocency is as dung and so abominable to God and sure I am this looks odd on 't for is not this Grace and Holiness a work of God and is not every work of God perfect in its kind hath not a perfection of parts been all along granted and is there not an Evangelical perfection consisting in sincerity which hath been and is acknowledged by Divines was it a strict legal perfection or a perfection consisting in sincerity that David intended when he gave Solomon his Son the charge to serve God with a perfect heart and so when it is said of the People they offered with a perfect heart 1 Chron. 29. 9. Was that a strict legal perfection in Heart and Life that was so sweet to Hezekiah in the reflection after he had received the sentence of Death in himself Isa 38. 3. And said Remember now O Lord I beseech thee how I have walked before thee in truth and with a perfect heart and have done that which is good in thy sight and Hezekiah wept sore Mr. Caryl from that part of Job's description This Man was perfect saith not that he had a legal perfection such a perfection as the Papists now contend for and assert to be possibly attainable yea actually attained by many in this Life But saith he the perfection here spoken of is the perfection of sincerity and he observes from the words after his explication First It is sincerity that especially commends us to God Secondly Saith he sincere and sound hearted Persons are in God's esteem perfect Persons It is not all that you can do or all that you can say or all that you can suffer or all that you can lose that can make you perfect in the esteem of God without sincerity add sincerity but to the least and it gives you the denomination of perfect Thus far this Reverend Author which Doctrine some Men call Popish so well are they acquainted what Popish Doctrine is Some Men seperate Faith and good Works and speak of them so as though there might be good Works without Faith Now for my part I know no good Works formally in a Theological sense but such as are done in Faith and I know nothing done in Faith that leads not to Christ and God in him and therefore for Persons to speak of good Works as such seperate from Faith and to speak of Faith leading the Soul off from Christ is manifestly vain Some Men will not grant that Faith is a qualification of right to Christ and his benefits and â—et they say to justifie is to make one legally just or just in Law so say I and can a Man be legally just without a legal righteousness and is not that which is a Righteousness a quality how then can a Man be just legally and not qualitatively Find me a Man that ever was legally just and yet not personally just in the sense of that Law which accounted him just and if personally just then primarily inherently just and if personally just just in his nature As I have said above so I must here say again let it be proved that Thomas is a Person without the nature of a Man or that the nature doth not go to constitute the Person when I speak of Faith as the qualifying matter in a Gospel sense some Persons have inferred from hence that this is all I intend in Justification whereas there is the form as I have said i. e. God's imputation by his Law of Grace his accounting such a Faith as accepts of Christ as our great Propitiation Head and Teacher by this his Law for the sake of Christ's satisfaction and Merit for Righteousness and forma dat esse Hence their inference is a meer fallacy à dicto secundum quid ad dictum simpliciter Will the Gospel assert a Person 's right to Christ and his benefits before conformity thereunto and when through grace any Person yields Conformity is it not a Gospel Righteousness and is not a Gospel Righteousness jus quoad eam legem a right in that Law to Christ Pardon and Life promised and is jus ad rem a right to a thing no qualification in a legal sense if not then the consequence must be that a penitent Believer as such subjectively hath no more actual right to Christ and Life according to the Gospel promise then an impenitent Infidel I speak not of a right by merit but both by qualification unto him that hath merited and unto Pardon and Life merited by him for us Faith it self as it is the Soul's first consent to accept of Christ to be its Propitiation Head and Teacher is really Gospel Obedience Rom. 16. 26. But now is made manifest and by the Scriptures of the Prophets according to the commandment of the everlasting God made known to all nations for the obedience of faith and that because it is the Soul's conformity to the Gospel command 1 John 3. 23. And this is his commandment That we should believe on the Name of his Son Jesus Christ love one another as he gave us commandment And Faith thus considered is that which unites to Christ and the qualifying matter which first gives the right John 1. 12. But as many as received him to them gave he power to become the Sons of God even to them that believe on his Name And as Faith is the Soul's consent to accept of Christ c. this consent includes the Soul 's free ingagement sincerely to be subject to what Christ commands so long as he continues it in the World in a dependance upon his power and faithfulness And this sincere obedience performed according to the Soul's first Covenant consent during its abode in this World is that whereby its right to Christ and saving blessings is continued Revel 22. 14. Blessed are they that do his commandments that they may have right to the tree of life and may enter in through the gates into the City And this is agreeable to the mind of a Reverend and Judicious Divine as he Illustrates it by a Marriage Covenant including constant fidelity And this Faith with him is a condition as it relates to the Covenant and a Righteousness in the sense of the Gospel as it is the performance of the condition And when he speaks of Christ's Righteousness being the cause and matter of Justification his declared sense is the meriting matter not that we might merit but have that by virtue of his merit which the Gospel requires to give us right to Pardon and Life and what is this but our sincere consent which is Faith Our Divines excluding good Works from the matter of Justification spoke of good Works with relation to the Law of Innocency and indeed Evangelical Obedience will be no qualifying matter of right in the sense of that Law and that they did so is plain forasmuch as their argument is because they are imperfect perfect therefore say they it must be a perfect
though the publication of it was but in time and the actual conferring of the benefits as the vertues of the Covenant of Redemption and Christ's performance his actual performance of the conditions of it were but in time yet these did not hinder that Covenant from being everlasting 5. I believe saith he that as Christ was chosen and constituted the Covenant head of his People and the Covenant made with him as the person undertaking so the Elect were therein given to him by the Father to be redeemed as his People Children Seed That there is a number according to the Election of Grace I grant and that all the Elect were given by the Father to the Son in the Covenant of Mediation to be redeemed by him not because as he intimates they were in his People Children and Seedâ— by meer Election but that they might be so by Redemption and the participation of the benefits thereof Ephes 1. 4 5. According as he hath chosen us in him before the foundation of the world that we should be holy and without blame before him in love Having predestinated us unto the adoption of Children by Jesus Christ to himself according to the good pleasure of his will Titus 2. 14. Who gave himself for us that he might redeem us from all iniquity and purifie unto himself a peculiar People zealous of good works I deny not Election but do not lay that stress upon it as to think the chosen of God are thereby constituted his People and Children as though Redemption by Christ and the work of the Spirit of grace upon Souls were not necessary Christ is the head of the Covenant of grace made betwixt God and his People in and by him as the Purchaser Efficient Author and the great mean of conveyance of all good therein I grant but then that such a Covenant as this should be made with Christ this I deny for this Covenant is a Covenant of reconciliation and it was not Christ but poor miserable Sinners that needed peace with God Whatsoever this Man thinks I am certain according to the Scripture that the Elect themselves before effectual vocation are enemies to God both in Heart and Life I speak of the Adult 1 Colos 21 22. And you that were sometimes alienated and enemies in your mind by wicked works yet now hath he reconciled In the body of his flesh through death to present you holy and unblameable and unreproveable in his sight and if so as is manifest they must be so wrought upon by the blessed Spirit to give their consent to be subject to God as his Children and Servants before God after a special sort be reconciled to them as his Friends and is there not implied in this their renouncing their former Masters the World the Flesh and the Devil and devoting themselves to God and his service sincerely upon which for the sake of Christ God becomes by promise their Sin pardoning God and reconciled Father and is not here a Covenant in form struck betwixt God and them of which Christ though he be the head in the sense mentioned above yet he cannot be a party 6. I believe saith he the Covenant of grace was made with Christ the second Adam and with all the Elect in him as his Children and Seed As the Assemblies Catechism saith It must be granted him the Assembly saith the Covenant of Grace was made with Christ as the second Adam and in him with all the Elect as his Seed But if it be as they say then that which they call the Grace of God manifested in the second Covenant in their Answer to the following Question must be given to Christ for with whom a Covenant is made of what nature soever the Covenant be to him must be given that which is promised in that Covenant upon his performance of the conditions so that if the Covenant of Grace be made with Christ then God must provide and offer to him as a Sinner a Mediator for this is one part of the Grace of the second Covenant and Christ must be obliged to perform the condition of this Covenant which the Assembly say is Faith to interest him in this Mediatour and this Covenant must promise and give the Holy Spirit to Christ as the Elect to work in him that Faith with all other saving Graces and to enable him unto all Holy Obedience as the evidence of the truth of his Faith and thankfulness to God and as the way which he hath appointed him to Salvation But seeing the Assembly do apply expresly this Grace of the second Covenant to Sinners of mankind the Covenant of Grace must upon a practical Faith he made with them and not with Christ unless this Man will say and prove this Reverend Assembly do contradict themselves And if so it is a wonder he should make what they say in this particular an Article of his Faith I would have this considered by the way i. e. did not Christ freely engage himself to be a Mediatour and so oblige himself to fulfil the Law of Innocency violated by Man make himself a Sacrifice for Sin to satisfie God's Justice and so merit Pardon and Life now was any of mankind in this same Covenant and bound under the same obligation with him If any say yea then they must be under obligation as well as Christ to do and suffer to satisfie and merit Christ if not then how could Christ and any of mankind with him be in the same Covenant for to be in the same Covenant must needs be to be under the same obligation If it be said Christ bound himself freely to do and suffer all this for us we deny it not but what is this to prove That Christ and we were in the same Covenant and so bound in the same bond Let it be proved that ever Christ was under a Covenant of Grace and that he was dealt with in a way of Mercy and not in a way of pure Justice and will any say that God's dispensations towards his People are in a way of justice and not in a way of Mercy 7. I believe saith he that as Adam was a publick Person and common head in whom his posterity were to stand or fall Rom. 5. so Christ as a common head and publick person is the head and Representative of all the Elect in whom their state and standing is sure and safe so that they shall never fall nor finally perish I grant all that are given by the Father to the Son shall come and that being brought over effectually they shall have persevering grace John 10. 27 28 29. My sheep hear my voice and I know them they follow me And I give unto them eternal life and they shall never perish neither shall any pluck them out of my hand My Father which gave them me is greater than all and none is able to pluck them out of my Fathers hand And that this their standing is secured by the merits and
cast out And therefore he accuseth me falsly 18. I believe saith he that as one great end of the Father in electing and of the Son in redeeming was the making of the Elect holy so the blessed Spirit the third Person in the glorious Trinity which is as free in working Faith Regeneration and Sanctification as the Father in electing or the Son in redeeming doth in time make the Elect Holy Humble Heavenly righteous sincerely Obedient and fruitful in good works contained in the first and second table of the holy Law Very good thus far I deny not but grant the same only there is this I would have him reminded of i. e. How it comes about or what revelation there is for it in the word that God will now accept of sincere obedience to his commands through Christ whereas sinless perfect Obedience was once injoined Man That it is pleasing unto and accepted by God through Christ is certain I mean sincere Obedience to his commands But that it should be so without any further revelation that this is the will and command of God beside what was commanded Adam in Innocency as he insinuates when he saith in scorn he is not acquainted with my new Law this rests upon him to prove and is like to do It would be his mercy if God would convince him and humble him for his deriding of that as my Law which he must shortly know is God's Law and that which he will judge him by 19. I believe saith he the Elect the redeemed and justified by Christ are under the greatest obligation to duty both moral and positive in their own house and God's house in the Church and in the World this Man hath words enough And that those that talk of Election and Justification by free Grace and yet live eiâ—her in practical wickedness or in the wilful neglect of Christian duties in their Families or Closets or slight the appointments and Ordinances of Christ in the Church when they have opportunity are the greatest enemies that Christ hath that they have caused many to stumble at the truth and tempted some to lay out their parts Wisdom and Reason all which should be used for God in opposing the truth stadying out ways words and methods to cloud and render it odious and these abusers of grace by their Omissions and Commissions do cause the way of truth to be spoken of so they hereafter shall mâ—et with the greatest condemnation and shall have the hottest place in Hell except they repens for whose practice I never have nor shall I hope be an Advocate The most of what he here saith is truth in it self only as for his own practice he speaks of I can neither say with it nor against it being very much a stranger unto it but if he mean by truth what he hath drawn up as Aâ—ticles of his Faith I grant and accept somethings in some of them to be great truths but as for very much contained in them I do not at all question but they are great untruths as I have made appear and may yet further do though I will have this charity for the Man that he doth not think or intend them to be so though in the mean time he deceives himself and is in danger of deceiving others with false notions though I grant a contrary practice a practice that is repugnant to false notions so long as Persons do not willingly oppose clear light it alters the case very much as to Persons states and safety 20. I believe saith he those Scriptures Rom. 3. 21 22. Philip. 3. 9. Rom. 4. 13. which such an one speaking of me brings to prove that Faith it self is our Justifying Righteousness are not for his purpose the two first speak of the Righteousness of Christ God Man which Faith apprehends embraces and takes hold of and cloaths the Soul with as the best robe and whether the word Righteousness of Faith in Rom. 4. 13. ought to be understood of the object or of the act of Faith I shall leave to consideration being perswaded the Scriptures ought not to be expounded against Christ but for him of whom they testifie Mark Reader upon this Article he saith Article 12th that to say the Righteousness of Christ's Godhead or his Manhood or the Righteousness of both his natures united is imputed is blasphemy and here he saith that Faith apprehends embraces and takes hold of the Righteousness of Christ God Man and cloaths the Soul with it as the best robe and how he will free himself from the heavy charge of Blasphemy propronounced by himself he must see to it Touching the Righteousness of Faith spoken of in the forementioned Texts the Apostle either speaks of Faith or wholly excludes it if he speak of and include Faith then how can the object i. e. only the Righteousness of Christ as he saith be intended unless he think that Faith goes to the constituting of Christ's Righteousness but surely he will not say this if Faith be wholly excluded and the Righteousness of Christ and only this meant then why doth the Apostle mention Faith If he say because it takes hold upon and embraceth the Righteousness of Christ I ask then where this Faith is if the Apostle only speak of the object Christ's Righteousness in these Texts He cannot find it unless he will say that Faith it self is part of this object and if so then it follows First That Faith is a part of Christ's Righteousness 2ly That Faith taketh hold of and embraceth Faith for Christ's Righteousness and so Thirdly That one part of the object takes hold upon and embraceth another Thus Persons may see if they will not on set purpose shut their Eves what a confusion and jumble this makes i. e. the asserting the Righteousness of and by Faith to be Christ's Righteousness not Faith but the object â—nly But if this Man will take notice and labour â—o understand I will tell him again what I hold in this particular i. e. Faith as it is the Souls consent to renounce the World the Flesh and the Devil and thankfully to accept of Christ to be its only Saviour which includes his taking him in all his Offices and a purpose through assisting Grace of Obedience to the Death is a conformity to the Gospel which is Christ's Law of Grace and as it is a conformity hereunto by the Scripture it is called a Righteousness and this Faith justifies not nor gives any Soul interest in Christ and a right to the blessings purchased by him contained in the Covenant of Grace as a meer act but as by it the Soul renounceth all Christ's Enemies and accepts of him in all his Offices c. and so relatively so that this same Man with others do me open wrong in bearing Persons in hand that I affirm that Faith justifies or giveth right as a meer act 21. I believe saith he that such an one naming me chargeth many things upon I know not who
effects of Christ's passion as I suppose he doth I utterly disclaim any condition on Man's part of this sort and so cannot be one with him 2. They that will enjoy the effects of Christ's passion must fulfill the condition If he meant they must fulfill it by the assistance of God's grace as a condition of connection and order it is true but if he meant they must fulfill it so as that they may merit or deserve it from the very nature of the thing which I think he did according to the Popish Doctrine that Christ hath merited that we might merit then it is false 3. The fulfilling of the condition requireth first knowledge of the condition which knowledge we have by faith Perhaps he meant by faith a blind implicit faith that which is so much in vogue and cried up at this day even among such as account themselves the greatest Anti-papists 4. Faith cometh of God and this faith is a good gift it is good and profitable to me it is profitable to me to do well and exercise this faith So it is I must confess if he spoke of that faith which according to the Scripture is true and saving for and through the merits of Christ and not such a faith that doth deserve of itself or in its own nature the reward for I know no such faith therefore faith Gardiner further By the gift of God I may do well before I be justified In the following Article he further explains himself 5. Therefore I may do well by the gift of God before I am justified towards the attainment of my Jâ—â—ification If he meant by way of merit to procure Jâ—stification ex opere operato from the very work done it is false and I disown it 6. There is ever as much charity towards God as faith and as faith increaseth so doth charity increase If this be taken absolutely every one may judge of it as they have light 7 Towards the attainment of Justification is required Faith and Charity If he meant still as meriting procuring causes in their own nature I disown it 8. Every thing is to be called freely done whereof the righteousness is free and at liberty without any cause of provocation This is a jumble like some other things I have met with of late and therefore I shall leave it to such as this Man who account themselves much wiser than I to find out the true intent and meaning and shall not trouble the Reader with conjectures 9. Faith must be to me the assurance of the promises of God made in Christ if I fulfill the condition and love must accomplish the condition whereupon followeth the attainment of the promises according to God's truth This doth not much differ from the Doctrine of such as place the very Essence of Faith in assurance I speak as to the first branch of it and for the rest I leave it as confused 10. A Man being in deadly Sin may have grace to do the work of penance whereby he may attain to his Justification If he meant that though a Man may be bound over to eternal death by Sin and live in a state of impenitency yet God may give him the grace of repentance who can fairly deny this but then that such an one by his repentance doth merit by it in its own nature that God should justifie him this is false and I disown it It was not my province to say any thing upon these Articles but only barely to transcribe them that the Reader might compare them and mine and see whether they be all of a piece as this Man insinuates Hence mine follow Touching Christ's Righâ—ousness and the Imputation thereof I affirm 1. God so far imputes it as that he accounts it was for â—ur Redemption and Salvation 2. God so far imputes it as that he accounts it to be the sole or only merit and purchase of the new Covenant and the benefits thereof 3. God so far imputes it as that he accounts it to be the merit of the blessed Spirit to work grace 4. God so far imputes it as that he accounts it is for this that all the duties and graces of his People are accepted 5. God so far imputes it as that he accounts it for this he pardons us and receives us into favour and justifies by his Covenant of Grace upon believing and so accepts our Faith for Righteousness It is not without Christ but for him 6. I do believe that what Christ did and suffered he did and suffered for us in the Person of a Mediatour and God doth account what he did and suffered as Mediatour doth and shall avail as much for the obtaining of Pardon and Life for us upon Faith as though we had been able to have done and suffered the same in our own Persons Now Reader compare and be judge whether Winchester's Articles and mine in this point of Imputation do so agree as this Man hath the modesty to affirm and if thou be such an one as Calumniations have weight with thou mayst have enough in him But further saith he the Martyrs before named sealed the contrary Doctrine with their dearest Blood i. e. the Doctrine contrary to mine as well as that of Winchester's for this he must chiefly intend in affirming Winchester's and mine i. e. my six things before mentioned do so agree that I in them do not exceed nor ascribe more to the grace of God and the merits of Christ than Winchester doth in his Be it known then unto all Men That if this Man or any other for him can find me any one either in the Scripture or in that which hath been accounted the Church of Christ by the Reformed since the Apostles times that was reckoned a faithful Servant of God and yet sealed as such a Doctrine contradictory to what is contained in the six particulars with his 〈◊〉 her dearest Blood and I profess I will retract them if so then such an one should have holden and this agreeable to the Scriptures and the common suffrage of the Church of Christ That Christ's satisfactory and meritorious Righteousness was not nor is not accounted by God to have been for our Redemption and Salvation nor to have been the sole purchase and merit of the new Covenant and the benefits of it together with the Holy Spirit nor to be that for which God accepts of the graces and duties of his People nor to be that for which God pardons and receives penitent believing Souls into favour c. Let him prove now if he can that Barnes Hierome and Garret sealed such a Doctrine thus contradictory to mine with their dearest Blood Hierome and Garret agreed with Barnes in the Doctrine of Faith and we find Barnes affirming that good works are to be done and they that do them not shall not come into the Kingdom of God and we find him only excluding them from Justification and Salvation in point of merit making Christ and the death of
e. Justification is God's asserting and maintaining act by his Law of Grace of our right to Pardon and Life for the sake of Christ upon our believing 1. It is an act and that ad extra an act which makes a relative change and the subject upon whom this relative change is made is Man a guilty and condemned Sinner one upon whom the sentence of condemnation is passed by the Law and he under obligation thereby to suffer eternal punishment this is Man's condition antecedent to God's act of justifying Rom. 3. 19. Now we know that what things soever the Law saith it saith to them who are under the Law that every mouth may be stopped and all the World may become guilty before God Galat. 3. 22. But the Scripture hath concluded all under sin that the promise by Faith of Jesus Christ might be given to them that believe John 3. 18. He that believeth on him is not condemned but he that believeth not is condemned already because he hath not believed in the name of the only begotten Son of God Ephes 2. 3. Among whom also we all had our conversation in times past in the lusts of our flesh fulfilling the desires of the flesh and of the mind and were by nature the Children of wrath even as others 2. In this act of justifying there is the term from which or the state from which Man a Sinner is brought upon his Justification and that is from an obligation to punishment and the omission or loss of right to Life and Happiness Every poor Soul before Faith is under an obligation to Eternal Punishment and must lose Heaven and Eternal Happiness if he leave the World in this condition How much then should it be our concern to see that we have true Faith that we have thankfully accepted of and are sincerely subject unto Christ that so we may have through him a right to Pardon and Life John 5. 24. Verily verily I say unto you He that heareth my word and believeth on him that sent me hath everlasting life and shall not come into condemnation but is passed from death unto life Rom. 8. 1. There is therefore now no condemnation to them which are in Christ Jesus who walk not after the Flesh but after Spirit 3. In justifying there is the term to which or the state a poor Sinner is brought into and that is a right to this Pardon and Life spoken of before No sooner is a Sinner justified but Pardon and Life are his they are by Gospel or Covenant right his John 3. 16. For God so loved the World that he gave his only begotten Son that whosoever believeth in him should not perish but have everlasting life and Verse 36. He that believeth on the Son hath everlasting life and he that believeth not the Son shall not see life but the wrath of God abideth on him 4. There is the agent or he that justifies and that is God we are before Repentance and Faith guilty and condemned and until God do justifie us we remain in that guilty and condemned state therefore if ever we have a right to Pardon and Life God gives it Rom. 3. 26. To declare I say at this time his righteousness that he might be just and the justifier of him which believeth in Jesus Rom 4. 5. But to him that worketh not but believeth on him that justifieth the ungodly his faith is counted for righteousness Rom. 8. 30. 33. Moreover whom he did predestinate them he also called and whom he called them he also justified and whom he justified them he also glorified Who shall lay any thing to the charge of God's elect it is God that justifieth 1. Hence learn first how much we should adore and admire the riches of mercy in Christ that after we had greatly offended him and exposed our selves to his wrath and displeasure everlastingly having involved our selves in a state of guilt and condemnation having forfeited all right to Life I say that after this all this yet he should be willing to become our justifier the forgiver of our Sins and the Donor of a right to Happiness and this upon honourable terms with relation to himself and reasonable with respect to us How much doth this call for our Admiration and Adoration certainly it will be the work of Heaven 2. How great folly are poor impenitent Sinners guilty of for though God be willing to justifie ready to pardon and receive into his favour and make over unto them a sure title to Erernal Life if they will but now humbly come in upon his call and thankfully accept his Son to be their Propitiation Head and Teacher and be subject to him in Christ yet they refuse they hold fast deceit and will not return they set no value upon this great good offered they prefer their Soul damning Lusts and the Profits and Pleasures of a vain transitory World they content themselves to live unforgiven at enmity to God Heirs of Hell destitute of right to Life and Salvation O what folly How much is the condition of such to be lamented who chuse death before Life guilt before Pardon execution in Hell before the fruition of a glorious rest in Heaven God calls them to incline their ear and come unto him hear and their Souls shall live and he will make an everlasting Covenant with them even the sure mercies of David Isa 55. 3. he assures them by his promise that if they will forsake their wicked ways and sinful thoughts he will have mercy and abundantly pardon Verse 7 but alas all this moves them not they are still as unconcerned as before 3. That Justification is not from Eternity For any to affirm this is to affirm a contradiction i. e. that we were both guilty condemned and justified from Eternity for who now are justified but such as before were guilty and condemned so that first God condemns us from Eternity as guilty and then justifies us from Eternity according to these Men touching what they alledge i. e. God's purpose and decree they may as groundedly gather from it that Persons are effectually called from Eternity conformed to the Image of Christ and glorified from Eternity 5. In the description I say it is God's act by his Law of Grace it is not by an immediate but a mediate act that God justifies seeing it is God's act by this his Law and that it is will appear further if we consider that we can neither be justified by the Law of innocent Nature nor by the Law of Moses And if not then by some other Law for as condemnation is by Law so Justification As disobedience then to the Law of Grace brings upon us condemnation so obedience to the same Law gives right to Pardon and Life which is Justification If so be that Sinners remain impenitent unbelieving Rebels against Christ by this Law they are condemned but on the contrary if they through Grace become Penitent Obedient Believers then this Law intitles