not of great moment but the supercilious haughtinesse of the man puft with the opinion of his secular learning so high as to puf and pif at so many excellent Divines for learning and holinesse to many of which he is not worthy to be an Amanuensis is unsufferable I shall therefore as briefly as I can expresse upon what grounds our Divines and how far they make the righteousnesse of Christ the matter of our justification as near as I may upon good probabilities conjecture The Doctrine of justification by Christ is no where in the four Evangelists held forth under the name of justification or justifying Many both Parables and clear doctrines that proceeded from the lips of Christ do indeed in other words fully display it specially John the Evangelist who made it more his task to record the doctrine then the acts of Christ because he saw those historifyed somewhat largely by the other three Evangelists which had written before him Eagle-like mounting on high to the contemplation of his Celestiall and Divine nature and doctrines very exactly sets it forth but under other words naming it Life eternall Life everlasting Life He that beleeveth in the Son hath everlasting life Joh. 3. 36. Is passed from death to life Joh. 5. 24. Hath eternall life Joh. 6. 54. My flesh which I give for the life of the world Joh. 6. 51. And ye will not come to me that ye may have life Joh. 5. 40. Except ye eat my flesh and drink my bloud ye have no life in you he that eateth me shall live by me Joh. 6. 57. In all which and many other texts of this Evangelist none can deny but by life is to be understood chiefly if not only life in law the life of justification not that of glory which is to be received above but that of grace here For so those Scriptures point out a life here in this present world enduring everlastingly to all eternity and not a life here only to be hoped for and hereafter to come into our fruition Neither do I find the word justifie used but once by Luke in the Acts of the Apostles Nor yet at all in any one of the Epistles of the Apostles St. James only excepted in one Chapter but by the Apostle Paul alone Yet the substance of justification was the chief doctrine in all their Epistles handled but the same set forth under the name of Salvation saving life and other phrases which our Saviour himself used And these phrases also doth St. Paul use as equipollent with the word Justifying in all his Epistles Now the reason why this Apostle more then the rest treats of this doctrine under the name of justification I conceive to be this Because he was forced to handle it by way of controversie against the false Apostles some professing some rejecting Christ that taught justification and salvation by the works of the Law in part and not by faith only whom therefore he must needs in his disputes treat with in their own tearms and words Their Argumentation against the Apostle as may be gathered from the Apostles answers ran in this tenour and to this effect That righteousnesse alone which justifyeth or maketh a man perfectly righteous saveth But the righteousnesse of the Law is that righteousnesse alone which justifyeth or maketh man perfectly righteous at least by procuring proper righteousnesse to him therefore that alone saveth The Apostle here granteth the proposition that no other righteousnesse but that which justifyeth or maketh a man perfectly righteous saveth But denyeth the assumption that the righteousnesse of the Law only or at all justifyeth or maketh a man perfectly righteous Because only the perfect doers of the law are perfectly righteous not the hearers But no man can perfectly do it And contrariwise proveth that the righteousness of the Gospel which he cals the Righteousnesse of God the Righteousnesse of faith the Righteousnesse of God by faith which consisteth in Christs satisfaction imputed to us is the Righteousnesse which justifyeth and maketh perfectly righteous because it cleanseth from the guilt and freeth from the imputation of all sin and unrighteousnesse Rom. 1. 17. 3. 5 21 22 25 26. 4. 3 5 6 11. 5. 17 18 21. 9. 30. 10. 3 4 6. 2 Cor. 5. 21. Phil. 3. 9. In all which places and in many other the Apostle having rejected the righteousnesse of works from being asserteth the righteousnesse of God in Christ by faith to be the righteousnesse the matter and substance of the righteousnesse by which we are justifyed This he illustrateth Rom. 5. 19. by a comparison between Adam and Christ Adams disobedience and Christs obedience As by the disobedience of one man many were made sinners so by the obedience of one shall many be made roghteous the ones disobedience was not only the merit but also the matter of our sin as far as sin is capable of matter the very sin it self which being imputed to us as being in him without any personall and actuall sin of our own makes us sinners So the obedience of Christ in offering himself a sacrifice for sin and giving satisfaction to Gods justice in obedience to that positive command of the Father which required it was and is not only the merit but also the matter of that righteousnesse which being imputed to us as being in Christ without any personall obedience of ours added to it constituteth us righteous and justifyed in Gods acceptance or is that for by and in which the Lord pronounceth us just and justifyed to our own consciences Such is the frequent dispute of the Apostle about the substance and matter of that righteousnesse by which we are justify ad which he concludes not to be a righteousnesse inherent in us but this Righteousnesse inherent in Christ but imputed to us and apprehended by faith to justification whom God hath set forth as a propitiation for our sinnes through faith in his blood Rom. 3. 25. And this is all that I finde our Divines to mean in saying the righteousnesse or satisfaction of Christ is the materiall cause of our justification defending against the Papists as the Apostle did againsts the Pharisees that the matter of the righteousnesse which God accepteth and imputeth to us in justifying us or unto righteousnesse and justification is this righteousnesse of Christ only not the righteousnesse of works Mr. Baxter in rejecting the phrase 1. As rude and not Logicall 2. As at the best unproper doth first accuse the Apostle and secondarily them that follow his Apostolicall doctrine and phrase of this rudenesse and impropriety of language One of them speaks out the minde of the rest Deus justitiam i. e. Obedientiam satisfactionem Sevarpius â—rs Th eol â— justif â— 925. Christi nostram facit ac pro nostra ducit c. atque ita nos antequam justos pronunciet justos facit God makes the righteousnesse i. e. the obedience and satisfaction of Christ ours
Covenant and that pretious Gospell promise He that beleeveth in the Son shall not come into condemnation but is passed from death to life so I affirm faith to be both Gods and Mans instrument Gods effective and mans receptive instrument in relation to justification as shall be beneath more fully explained First it is Gods instrument This justification is but Gods pronouncing and declaring a man to his own conscience to be just and discharged from sin and condemnation through Christ so that he perceives and apprehends himself absolved and doth acquiesce in this absolution One chief instrument by which God doth thus justifie or declare and manifest man to himself just and pardoned is faith This is Gods instrument in the same sense in which Mr. Baxter maketh the promise and grant of the new Covenant to be Gods instrument and that more fully as I in part shewed before For that grant doth but declare a possibility to a man as it is considered by it self to be justifyed promising forgivenesse and life to all that shall beleeve By this act alone no singular person is actually justifyed But now this grant premised when God is pleased to infuse faith into the soul of any singular person by it as by his instrument he declareth that person to himself just and acquitted from condemnation so that he can thenceforth plead out his own justification God hath pronounced them all just and pardoned which beleeve in his Son I so beleeve therefore I am pronounced and declared of God just and pardoned So this faith is the instrument of God for so Lawyers term Deeds and Grants in writing instruments yea instruments of him that makes the Deed or Grant And the promise of the new Covenant or the new Testament is called novum Instrumentum as it is his evidence written not without the man as that Gospell grant but by the finger of Gods Spirit in the hearts of the Elect so that they may read this instrument of Gods writing within their hearts evidencing and manifesting to themselves their justification from God And this is one principall instrument and evidence of God promised under the new Covenant Jer. 31. 31-35 recited as now fulfilled by the Apostle Heb. 8. 8-12 10. 16 17. I will write my Lawes in their hearts c. what Law but the rule doctrine and evidence of life and salvaâ—ion But what benefit by having it written within them more then if it were in writing without them Yes this They shall not need externall teaching to know the Lord for they shall all know me from the least to the greatest What knowledg of God was this whereupon they should not need teachers They shall know him to be their God their Justifyer their Saviour for so much intimate the next words For I will forgive their iniquities and remember their sins no more This was one chief part of the Law or will of God written in their hearts justification or everlasting remission of sins This they should not need to be taught from without the instrument of writing or evidence thereof should be within their own hearts apparent not to others but their own reading And what more principall evidence or instrument of writing within our hearts thus to assure us then our faith engraven by Gods own hand in us I appeal to Mr. Baxter himself whether I wrest this Scripture from its proper sense or if any shall except against me I doubt not but I shall make it good to be the minde of the holy Ghost which I have here given To the same purpose is it that Faith is called the Evidence of things not seen Heb. 11. 1. Whose evidence Gods evidence given us by which he declareth to us and manifesteth to our consciences the invisible things of our justification and salvation and when given then our evidence also by which we not only apprehend but also plead against all the accusations of the Law yea of sin and Satan our actuall justification And that it is called the witnesse of God in us or within us because God by this witnesse as his instrument declares and evidenceth us to our own consciences justifyed 1 Joh. 5. 10. Secondly It is mans instrument by which he applyeth to himself and without which he cannot applie to himself this justification and remission of the new Covenant to know and be sensible of it that he may rest and rejoyce in it being justifyed in himself i. e. in his own knowledge and conscience God was in Christ reconciling the world to himself not imputing to them their trespasses 2 Cor. 5. 19. Reconciliation and Justification as hath been shâ—wed are one and the same thing That we may receive it therefore from him in Christ he gives us as many as are his Elect this living faith as an instrument by which he may apply it and bring it home into our bosomes Therefore is the operation of the soul by faith set forth in the Scripture by a comparison of a mans working by the severall members of the body as by his instruments Calling Faith sometimes the eâ—e of man by which he looketh to Christ crucifyed as the Israelites to the brazen Serpent thence to obtain cure to the wounded and poysoned soul Joh. 3. 14 15. Sometimes the fooâ— of the soul by which it runs and comes to Christ for life and justification Joh. 5. 40. Sometimes the hand of the soul by which it apprehendeth Christ and the justification that is in and by him To as many as received him to them he gave power to become the sons of God even to as many as beleeve in his Name Joh. 1. 12. Sometimes the mouth of the soul by which it eateth and drinketh in Christ with the life that is in him both to justifie and sanctifie He that eateth my flesh and drinketh my bloud hath eternall life Joh. 6. 54. If ye have tasted that the Lord is gracious 1 Pet. 2. 3. Sometimes the armes of the soul by which it embraceth and holdeth in possession Christ with his life and righteousnesse He that hath the Son hath life he that hath not the Sâ—n hath not life 1 Joh. 5. 12. What doth all this imply lesse then that faith is instrumentall to our justification Yea given to us to be the sole instrument on our part by which to apply to our selves the justification offered by God in Christ Or what else is meant by the generall voice of the Gospell pronouncing us to be justifyed by faith but by faith Gods instrument and evidence to declare and manifest it to our souls and our instrument to apprehend and hold it fast and firm to our selves It remaineth now to examin Mr. Baxters reasons by which he assayeth to prove that it is neither mans nor Gods instrument First that it is not mans instrument he thus argueth B. Not mans instrument for he is not the principall efficient he doth not justifie himself Both this and all that which followeth in this his dispute
pense Bax. p. 94. Not that it receives its efficacy from these nor that these do add any thing at all to its worth and value no more than the cabbinett to the jewell or the applying hand to the Medicine or the offenders acceptation to the pardon of his Prince Yet without this acceptation and application this bloud will not be effectuall to justifie us These words would seem to plead a good meaning in Mr. Br to them that neither are acquainted with the glozings of the Papists nor with that which followeth in this Treatise of Mr. Br. He might be thought by this his smoothing to attribute our Justification wholly to Christs sufferings and nothing to any thing in our selves save to faith only nor to Faith but as it is appointed of God to be instrumentall for the accepting and receiving into our bosoms Christs merits and the benefits thereof The like fine words we shall finde oft falling from the pen of Pelagius Papists Arminians c. But both of him and them I may say what the Lord once said of Israel This people hath well spoken in all that they have said O that there were in them such a heart c. Deut. 5. 28 29. He proceeds and opposeth to the Authority of our Apostle Paul the authority of his St Grotius at the hearing of whose sophisticall learning all the doctrine of Paul must fall broken and shivered to the earth no lesse than the Ark of God did before the great Dagon of the Philistims Bax. Cum unusquisque actui ex sua voluntate pendenti legempossit imponere c. as may be there read at large p. 94. The summe of all is this Because our justification is an act proceeding from the meer and free will of God and of Christ it was therefore in their power after payment made by Christ and accepted by the Father in our behalf to covenant and accomplish our discharge either forthwith or a long time after either simply or upon Conditions Therefore it is Covenanted between the Father and the Son that we shall be after satisfaction made not forthwith but in processe of time justified and then also not purely or absolutely but conditionally A mad Argumentation For A posse ad esse non valet Consequentia It is as if I should argue God could have supported Mr. Br and his Mr Grotius in the truth of the Gospel Ergo he hath preserved them in the truth What judicious man that hath considerately read their works would not hisse at such an argument But he adds the authority of Austin Bax. As Austin He that made us without us will not save us without us O that Mr. Br had stood as Austin pillar-like to beare up the Grace of God entire in the whole busines of our salvation against all the sophisms of Pelagius and his followers We should in no wise have excepted against Augustines words in Mr. Baxters mouth uttering them in Augustines sense We make not men stocks and stones nor deny the operation of their wills moved by Gods Spirit in the way to happines Yet the sentence it self alleaged out of Austin I doubt is perverted by Mr. Baxter as it hath been by some before him I have been told that in Austin it is read intorrogatively and bears the force of an affirmative thus He that made thee without thee will he not save thee without thee which is equivolent to this if it were said he will save thee without thee For the truth of it I have been directed to his Serm. 11. de verb. Apostoli where though I finde it not totidem verbis yet the full sense and substance thereof I finde The Father treating of those words of the Psalmist He made us without us or not we our selves improves them by the annexion of other Scriptures against Pelagius demonstrating that he also saves us when we were lost without us To this effect his sentences are full and manifold Perditos nos per nos reficit nos qui fecit nos Again Ipse fecit nos non ipsi nos ut simus populos ejus oves pascuae ejus Again Homines sumus ipse fecit nos fidelâ—s sumus jam justi ipse fecit nos non ipsi nos Again Ipse fecit nos antequà m essemus omninò ipse fecit nos factos lapsos ipse justos fecit nos non ipsi nos Nondum erat homo factus est offendit salvus factus Again Quis prior dedit ei retribuetur ei Si Dominus retribuere vellet nihil nisi paenam debitam retribuisset Nihil dederunt ut eis retribueretur pro nihilo salvos fecit illos In a word as all this is directly against Mr. Baxter so is there no one title in the whole Sermon for him but all proving not in Mr. Baxters sophisticall way but seriously and profoundly from cleer and invincible Scriptures our salvation to be onely Gods work not his and ours together If nothing else should be said that which Austin in this one Chapter hath said is enough to bury Mr. Baxters doctrine in the dirt for ever Bax. He never maketh a relative change where he doth not also make a reall True but whether the relative or the reall change hath the precedency in order is the question Whether our reconciliation or justification go before sanctification or follow it as the fruit thereof Bax. Gods decree gives no man a legal title to the benefit decreed him seeing purpose and promise are so different True but altogether besides the question Bax. A legall title we must have before we can be justified and there must be somewhat in our selves to prove that title or else all men should have equall right If he speak of our being justified in our selves or having our Justification evidenced to our selves or our brethren we consent with him If he mean otherwise in the sense often mentioned what he saith here is that which he hath often said but it remaineth yet to be proved There is somewhat else as hath been oft shewed besides Mr. Brs somewhat in us that differenceth man from man that all have not equall right And this is somewhat in Christ not somewhat in us CHAP. XIII Mr. Baxters doctrine of a twofold i. e. a legal and Evangelical Righteousnes equally necessary to salvation or Justification examined The terms and phrase which he useth discussed and how little he saith to prove either phrase or matter to be good manifested I Shall totally pretermit the 16th Aphorisme and its explication not but that there are some passages therein deserving examination but because that what is delivered in such passages is done very warily and may admit of a good as well as of a bad Construction and in the following part of his book Mr. Br speaketh it out fully and plainly that no man can doubt of his meaning Therefore is more properly to be answered there than in this place Neither shall
because the New Covenant threatens no death to such sinnes therefore no need if Christs mediating death here for us For where no death is threatned there is none explicitely due saith he But will he say none is either explicitely or implicitely due Or when Mr. Baxter tels us pag. 15. that in the Old Covenant the promise of life is not expressed but plainly implyed in the threatning of death Will it not follow by the same reasons that when Mr. Baxter in the after part of this his Tractate alleageth such multitudes of Scriptures that promise life to the performance of such and such acts of Gospel righteousnesse that there is implyed the threat of death against the non-performance of the same Or if it should have been printed as it is most probable because he so speaketh elswhere in reference to the covenants that where death is not explicitely threatned there it is not due and Christ hath not suffered it in our behalfe What shall we think then of all the fathers from Adam to Moses where was this death explicitely threatned to any actual sinne untill the Law was given by Moses The Scripture mentions it not and Mr. Baxter hath told us though I doubt somewhat rashly and Magisterially that to Adam himself in his perfection the form of the Covenant was not known as written in his heart but by superadded revelation pag. 14. Yea what shall we say of all the Nations of the world Israel alone excepted that even untill Christ had no revealed Covenant with God much lesse death threatned explicitely by such a Covenant Will Mr. Baxter deny death to have been due to them for their sinnes because not explicitely threatned Doth not the Apostle Rom. 1. 32. alibi affirm the contrary Thus if it were but it is not proved that the New Testament doth not so threaten death 3. When he tels us that Christ is said to have been made under the Law and to have born the curse of the Law and to have freed us from it but no where is this affirmed of him in respect of the Gospel pag. 161. This is an Argument of the same nature with that before from Heb. 9. 15. The Apostle to dash the crest of their self-confidence in seeking to be in part justified as Mr. Baxter also doth by their own personall righteousnesse done in conformity to the Law tels them that even the Israel of God that were priviledged above all other people with a Law of Righteousness were under the curse of the Law and could not be saved but by a Redeemer much less they that had not the help of such a Law It bears the same sense with that of Gal. 2. 15 16. We that are Jews by nature and not sinneâ—s of the Gentiles Knowing that a man is not justified by the works of the Law but by the Faith of Jesus Christ even we have beleeved in Jesus Christ that we may be justified c. What a monstrous delusion were it then for us to teach the sinners of the Gentiles to seek after Justification by their personal righteousness according to the Law And though it be no where totidem verbis said or affirmed of him in respect of the Gospel yet is it said in the words equivalent Heb 9. 15. That he is the Mediator of the New Testament whence Pareus on the place concludeth That if he hath satisfied for the sins against the Old much more for the sinnes against the New Testament seeing he is the Mediator of this not of that And the blood of Jesus Christ cleanseth us from all sinne 1 Joh. 1. 7. Ergo from sins also against the Gospel I cannot say from sinns which are onely against the Gospel for there are none such Or if Mr. Baxter will take the words so strictly as hee seems to take them that Christ hath redeemed onely from sins against the Law hee must exclude himself with all the Churches and Saints of the Gentiles that are or have been from the redemption which is by Christ for so then must that passage in Gal. 4. 4 5. be read Christ was made under the Law to redeem them onely that were under the Law i. e. Only the Jews for they onely were under the Law of Moses and of this Law Mr. Baxter must needs confess the Apostle here to speak So that this argument of his if it please not a Jew it will please no body 4. The last Argument which he brings in the same 161 pag. to hit the white and cleave the pin and resolve the question so unanswerably that no tongue which cannot speak may ever more utter or mutter against it is as streight with his purpose as a rams horn with a line 4. But the question is out of doubt saith he because that every man that performeth not the Gospel-conditions doth bear the punishment himself in eternall fire and therefore Christ did not bear it True for Christ did bear the punishment of none of his sins neither of his lying swearing lust murther drunkennesse and other sins against the Law but he shall bear all himself shall we therefore conclude that Christ dyed not to make satisfaction for those sinnes in reference to them that have part in his death This were to pronounce Christ to have satisfied for no sin at all either against Law or Gospel and so no flesh shall be saved but ll suffer in eternal fire 5. What is in this Argument as also in the two next and immediately put before this in the same 161 pag. of his Saint-conditions which he worshipeth as his Mediators to bring him into communion with Christ no less then he doth Christ himself to bring him into communion with God I have partly spoken to before and shall have large and frequent occasions to speak more fully and largely upon other parts of this Tractate of Mr. Baxter here he doth but name conditions in general and what he saith is not worthy of any particular Animadversions in relation to it He confesseth himself pag. 160. To have been long of another judgement in this point while he considered not the tenor of the Covenants distinctly That is as long as he derived his guidance therein from the Scripture it self and from the truly Evangelical and Orthodox Commentators thereon But since hee hath met with Apocryphal Doctors the Jesuits and other nimble braines among the Papists and with Grotius and Vossius and others of that hair which hâ—â—e divided their consciences between the Papists and Socinians little prizing the Word where some quaint wit and invention of man haâ—h not descanted upon it to make it shine in the paint and varnish of humane speculations and art Now having found a Câ—ckows egge in a Finches nest the man is so taken with the pretty conveyance that hee doth as it were nest himselfe by it and accounts all other contemplations base in comparison of this defies Eagles Swans Turtles yea the whole generation of other birds cares not
Such as these have exhibited or do still exhibit Christ to us for redemption or justification such is our faith still to receive him But these all have exhibited and do exhibit Christ not as a Law-giver but as an offering or sacrifice for our sins therefore under this notion our faith is to receive him to justification So all the sacrifices circumcision paschal Lamb c. under the old Testament directed the faith of men to Christs sacrifice to the bloud and wounds of Christ for purging c. Or if any will say as he may truly say that circumcision typified also the renovation of the heart by the Spirit of Christ himself may answer himself that this was to sanctification and not to justification 2 The whole stream of the Gospell leads our faith to Christ crucifyed or dying for justification As the serpent was lifted up in the wildernesse so shall the Son of man be lifted up viz. upon the crosse that whosoever beleeveth in him should not perish but have everlasting life John 3. 14 15. I determined to know i. e. to preach among you for your knowledg nothing else but Christ and him crucifyed 1 Cor. 2. 2. If I be lifted up I will draw all men to me signifying what death he should die Joh. 12. 32 33. He that eateth my flesh and drinketh my bloud c. Joh. 6. 47 58. Whom God hath set forth as a propitiation through faith in his bloud Rom. 4. 25. Being justified by his bloud Rom. 5. 9. The bloud of Christ cleanseth from all sin 1 Joh. 1. 7. The Lambe of God sacrificed that taketh away the sins of the World Joh. 1. 29. Having made peace through the bloud of his Crosse Col. 1. 20. And reconciled us in the body of his flesh through death Ver. 21 22. Having redemption through his bloud even the sorgivenesse of sin Col 1. 14. He hath purchased his Church with his bloud Act. 20. 28. Having boldnesse to enter into the Holiest by the bloud of Jesus by the new and living way which he hath consecrated through the veil of his flesh Heb. 10. 19 20. He was wounded for our sins and bruised for our iniquities and by his stripes we are healed Isa 53. 5. God forbid that I should glory in any thing but in the Crosse of our Lord Jesus Christ Gal. 6. 14. I might even weary the Reader with allegations of Scriptures every way as pertinently and properly making Christ dying for us the object of faith as justifying And I challenge Mr. Baxter and all his admirers to produce one Scripture proving Christ as a Law-giver to be the object of our faith to justification If they cannot do it let it be acknowledged as an audacious and daring presumption in Mr. Baxter from his own authority without and against the Word to lay it down here as a position and principle of Religion 3 If the death and sufferings alone of Christ and not his giving of Lawes and commanding duties of righteousnesse be the sole and entire satisfaction which he hath given to the justice of God for us then Christ in his death and not at all in his Laws and Commands of such duties is to be made the object of our faith for justification But the former is true therefore the latter also Both the consequent and consequence of the Proposition must needs be granted by all Protestants though not by Remonstrants and Socinians which hold the imputation of the obedience of Christ to us by which he hath satisfyed Gods justice that he for us and we in and by him have done our law that his satisfying obedience is by imputation so fully made ours to justification as if we had done it our selves which is the doctrine of all Protestant Churches But Mr. Baxter hateth this phrase of imputation of Christs obedience will not cannot admit it for then he destroyes and pronounceth all at the best to be erroneous whatsoever he hath spowted out for sacred doctrine he grants the imputation of nothing else but our own faith and works to justification so that after his principles the consequence is not so clear Let us see therefore whether also after and upon his own grounds it may stand firm and undenyable 1 Then Mr. Baxter Thes 18. affirmes our Legall righteousnesse as he cals it i. e. that righteousnesse by which the Law is satisfyed for our breaches of it to be in Christ and in calling this Legall righteousnesse ours and the satisfaction therein made ours he doth imply that the satisfaction of Christ is the thing that being made ours is that which justifyeth us This he speaks out yet more plainly pa. 218. telling us that Christs satisfaction must be made ours else we cannot be justifyed that so far as by imputation no more is understood then the bestowing of Christs satisfaction on us so that we shall have the justice and benefits thereof as truely as if we had satisfyed our selves in this sense he granteth the imputation of Christs satisfactory righteousnesse and thus according to his principles that act or those acts of Christ by which he made satisfaction for us or rather Christ in these acts is to be made the object of our faith as justifying According to this rule pa. 54. he makes the Active righteousnesse of Christ considered as such part of the satisfaction together with the Passive and to lay a ground for that which he here inferreth pa. 57 he affirms that among other parts of Christs righteousnesse or Active obedience his assuming of the humane nature his establishing and sealing the Covenant his working miracles his sending his Disciples to convert and save the world his overcoming death and rising again c. which were all works most proper to his kingly office to have been meritorious and satisfactory And all this to lay a foundation for what here and Thes 72. he buildeth viz. Christ as a Law-giver as well as a Redeemer is the object of justifying faith as such and that obedience to his Laws as well as faith in his sufferings hath to do in our justification We finde then Mr. Baxter making Christ in his Legislative righteousnesse upon this ground alone to be the object of justifying faith as therein he in part satisfyed for our disobedience Therefore hoc nomine and in this respect must the consequence of the proposition stand firm with him viz. If only the death and sufferings of Christ and not at all his Legislative righteousnesse be the sole and entire satisfaction c. then Christ in his death onely and not c. is to be made the object of faith as justifying For in that righteousnesse alone by which Christ satisfyed is faith to apprehend him to justification by his own rules The Assumption then remaines alone needfull to be proved viz. that Christs death and suffering alone is the entire satisfaction This is clear to them which will not wilfully retain beams in their eyes from these Scriptures which affirm the
life of Christ sacrificed for us to be the Ransom Mat. 20. 28. 1 Tim. 2. 6. The Price by which we are purchased and redeemed from thraldome 1 Cor. 6. 20. 7. 23. The propitiation for our sins through faith in his bloud Rom. 3. 25. 1 Joh. 4. 10. i. e. that one and only act of Christ by which our sinnes are expiated the justice of God satisfyed and his wrath appeased so that we finde him now a God propitious and gratious to us But if we will hear the Scriptures speaking at large and articulately confirming this position that the satisfaction made by Christ is begun continued and perfected meerly and wholly in and by Christs sufferings in steed of many Testimonies which the Scripture affordeth I shall pitch upon two disputes only of the Apostle in the Epistle to the Hebrews The former in cap 9. beginning at the 11 and 12 verses That Christ being become an high Priest c. by his own bloud entred once into the Holy place having obtained for us eternall Redemption I need not explain the words for the edification of any that hath but read the Scriptures and taken but overly into his consideration how that which was yearly under the Law figured in the act of the high Priest the type was at length effectually accomplished by Christ the Antitype Again ver 13 14. If the bloud of Buls c. sanctifyed to the purifying of the Flesh how much more shall the bloud of Christ which by the eternall Spirit offered himselfe to God without spot purge your conscience from dead works c. An undeniable vertue and efficacy in the bloud of Christ alone without any further acts of Christ himself to purge the conscience e. i. to absolve and justifie is here affirmed And further ver 15. He is the Mâ—diatour of the new Covenant that by means of death for the redemption of the transgressions under the first Testament they which are called may receive the promise of the eternall inheritance i. e. the eternall inheritance promised by means of Christs death and not by his Legislative righteousnesse And ver 26 Christ now once at the end of the world hath appeared to put away sin by the sacrifice of himself What sin All sin according to that of John The bloud of Christ purgeth from all sin 1 Joh. 1. 7. And if from all sin what sin is there left for Christs giving of Lawes to put away or what of justification left out for it to perfect or of full satisfaction not made for it to compleat Lastly ver 28. Christ was once offered to bear the sins of many How did he bear them but as the Apostle saith He hath redeemed us from the curse of the Law being made a curse for us Gal. 3. 13. and in bearing them on our behalfe he satisfyed justice on our behalf And this is affirmed to be by offering himself for us not by giving Laws to us or injoyning duties upon us His second dispute is chap. 10. where the Apostle having mentioned the feeblenesse of the sacrifices offered by the Law to take away sin brings in Christ offering himself to accomplish what these could not and declaring his ready obedience to fulfill that will of God written in the volume of Gods book to offer himself a sacrifice for sin with a Lo I come by this will of God saith he we are sanctifyed by the offering of the body of Jesus Christ once for all ver 5 10. He saith not we have our consecration to be holy by the commands of Christ c. but by the offering of his body And that by sanctification is to be here understood purification and justification I think it will not be denyed However ver 12. it is added that he having once offered sacrifice for sins for ever sat down at the right hand of God his sitting down and resting argues his work the work of our redemption and justification perfected in every degree and number His rest is as Gods rest was from the beginning then the work of Creation now of Redemption being made absolutely perfect the rest followed and where had this work its beginning progresse and perfection In his once offering of sacrifice for sins for ever Nothing here of Christs Law-giving and rule from the bottom to the top of the work of Redemption or Justification The sacrifice alone satisfyed so far all things of man are here excluded as that nothing else of Christ is required As it is more fully yet expressed ver 14. For by one offering he hath perfected for ever them that are sanctifyed His perfecting Mr. Baxter will not deny to be his making of perfect satisfaction for them and this is done by one offering of Christ Will Mr. Baxter be so audacious as to oppose the holy Ghost with his Nay telling that there must be somewhat else besides this offering viz. Christs Law-giving as part of the satisfaction made for us Lastly to put all out of doubt and besides the bounds of cavilling what the Apostle should mean here by sanctifying and perfecting this also is unfolded in plain words ver 17 18. viz. The taking away of their sinnes and iniquities And where the remission of these is there is no more offering c. satisfaction is made to the full and no need of any addition for the perfecting thereof I acknowledg there are many things required to condition Christ that he might be an effectuall offerer and offering else could not the redemption and justification which are by him have been completed or the satisfaction made for us been perfect Yea that after the work of satisfaction as formerly of Creation finished and a totall resting from any further addition to it yet the Father worketh and the Son worketh hitherto in the businesse of governing and preserving of what is so created and repayred yet this doth not at all hinder but that full satisfaction is made by the alone offering of Christ And here once more I call upon Mr. Baxter and all his adherents to bring forth any one testimony of Scripture to prove that either Christs Law-giving or any other act of Christ besides this one of offering himself a sacrifice for sin is by the Scripture in whole or in part affirmed satisfactory to God for our justification Let them not as Mr. Baxter before doth from pa. 54. to pa. 61. bring their peradventures and may bees and possibles and verisimilies for are the conjectures and results of a working and self-conceited brain to be laid as a foundation whereon to build an Article of our faith But let them bring the oracle of the Word testifying either that Christ hath done or God hath required of him or accepted from him such and such works in part of satisfaction Else our ears will be deaf to hear mans prattle being attentive in such matters only to the voice of the holy Ghost This shall suffice for the opening and confirming of ouâ— Tenet untill it shall
built a Temple and there enthroned her for all men to fall down with him and worship her Yet of this Almighty power he proclaimes her that she binds the hands of God and Men the one cannot give the other cannot receive without her mediation Neither the eternall Father nor the eternall Son can shew the least mercy to a poor sinner nor the sinner partake of one crumb of mercy from the Father by the Son unlesse this great Lady Condition say Amen to it so high and so to vast a bignesse hath the Man already stretched her Yet is he still adding and in this place he is nayling in the offices of Christ into her bulk But because this Colossus is only from his own brain and nothing of Gods Word brought to own one piece of it let us leave him admiring if not adoring his fabrick or figment and refer our selves to answer when he brings any thing from Gods Word We have seen by this time the invalidity of the Assumption of Mr. Baxters Argument and of all the Reasons which he brings to prove it either to give proppage to his own assertion or any way to shake and weaken ours I am to examin also the consequent and consequence of his Proposition And here I deny both that other works and duties are required with faith to justification and all consequency hereof from this supposition that Christ in all his offices is the object of faith as justifying This Mr. Baxter layeth down first in and under his 72. Thesis pag. 266. deinceps His Thesis runs thus B. As the accepting of Christ for Lord which is the hearts subjection is as essentiall a part of justifying faith as the accepting of him for our Saviour So consequently sincere obedience which is the effect of the former hath as much to do in justifying us before God as affiance which is the fruit of the latter The Antecedent of this Position is nothing else but the reassuming of his former Assumption with a short explication and a short obscuration added to it His obscuration in this that he names justifying without the adjection there used as such we will understand him here meaning what there he speaks else we run from the question His explication that here he unfolds what he meant there by accepting Christ for Lord viz. the hearts subjection to Christs Legislative power or his commanding of woeks and obedience In this sense we deny still that the accepting of Christ for Lord is an essentiall part of justifying faith as such And all that which he seems further to bring for the confirmation thereof pa. 287 288. is but the saying over again of what he had said before and a little prattle of Physicall and morall Philosophy which is as fit to explain to us the mystery of Christ faith and justification as a net is to hold fast the winde and yet if all his reasoning thence were granted his cause is as naked and weak with it as without it The rest is nothing but words his own words his bare affirmations wherewith we have been so much wearied that the very thought of them is offensive We expect Gods word let him bring it or hold his peace The consequent of this Thesis which is also the consequent of the proposition of the Argument which we are here examining he puts here more fraudulently then I rendered it there viz. that sincere Obedience doth as much justifie as affiance that as the fruit of our accepting Christ for Lord and Law-giver as much as this which is a fruit of accepting Christ for our Saviour How slippery is falshood and how full of evasions Let him speak positively and plainly hath such obedience any thing to do in justifying us I should not lie if I should say I have conquered so many Armies taken so many Towns in and brought so much gold from the West-Indies as Mr. Baxter yet though I speak no lie I cannot be excused from speaking vanity in saying it for neither of us have done it But let us see whether there be more positivenesse in his poofs then in his affirmations In his 288. pag. thus he speaketh to it B. That obedience is as neer a fruit of faith as affiance is evident if you take it for the obedience of the soul in acts that are no more remote from the heart then affiance is and so is the obedience of our actions externall in its formall respect as obedience though not in its materiall because the imperate acts are not all so neer the fountain as the elicite If by this profound reasoning there be any that will not be persuaded to be a Christian of Mr. Baxters painting let him continue to be not only almost but altogether a Christian of Christs making and he shall never sustain damage thereby to his conscience or salvation The question is not here how neer or how remote a fruit of faith obedience is but whether the neerest or most distant fruits thereof considered as Mr. Baxter doth as our acts or deeds nor yet whether these acts as close to and remote from the heart nor whether imperate or elicit acts but whether such acts are at all appointed of God to justification We deny it and Mr. Baxter brings nothing to prove it Yet not to suffer the lesse exercised and informed Reader to depart unsatisfyed nor to roll up in darknesse and silence any truth of the Gospell proper here to be cleared I shall manifest in what respect Mr. Baxters assertion may be here warily granted Christ as Saviour and satisfier i. e. by the sacrifice of his death hath made a way for sinners to God yea made himself the way and is in respect thereof made to us of God righteousnesse This he did principally not only as our high Priest the other offices were not excluded This was not the whole work that he was sent to do He must bring into the way also that he hath made all that are to be saved in it and by it Joh. 10. 16. And having brought them he must also enable them to bring forth fruit to God by being their sanctifier Joh. 15. 5. Rom. 7. 4. 6. in these works he acteth principally as our Prophet and King To bring us into communion with him and into that way which he hath made through himself to righteousnesse and blessednesse as our Prophet he teacheth and as our King commandeth but as Priest Prophet and King effectuallizeth his teaching and commands by his Spirit In this respect his commands to us of coming by faith into union with him of adhering to him and reposing our selves wholly upon him for righteousnesse and life we grant that Christ as our King commanding as far as we look to the thing commanded viz. faith in his bloud alone for justification is an eminent instrument of our justification and as he effectuallizeth the merits of his death to us may not be unproperly made the object of our faith as justifying But
in his other forementioned operations upon us by his Word and Spirit not only to teach and command but also by his infinite power to enliven us to bring forth fruits of so great a salvation and to walke worthy of it in all holinesse and righteousnesse and exactnesse to fulfill all duties and works of Christian obedience In this he is to be made indeed the object of justifying faith or which is the same of sanctifying faith yet not at it justifyeth but as it sanctifyeth We should not a little maim both the office of faith and the benefits which we have by Christ if we should restrain them all to justification Nay Christ is made unto us as well sanctification as righteousnesse and faith adhereth as fast to Christ for the one as the other else is it not a legitimate but bastard faith Neverthelesse Christ is not in the same respect the object of faith as sanctifying and of the same as justifying Because this is Mr. Baxters supereminent Argument in which himself seems most to trust and by which so many learned Ministers do even professe themselves staggered and astonished I shall omit nothing unexamined that he speaketh in the affirming or confirming of it lest any should take occasion to say that the strongest part thereof is not because it could not be answered Therefore have I left out nothing of what he hath said to the other Proposition though many things were unworthy of Animadversion To the consequent of this Proposition he speaketh more in his next two Theses viz. 73. 74. what is inserted in these two Aphorisms more fit to be examined under another notion I shall here forbear to transcribe leaving it for its proper place What is to the present purpose he thus expresseth B. Thes 73. pa. 289. Faith only doth not justifie in opposition to the works of the Gospell but those works do also justifie Thes 74. Both faith and works justifie in the same kind of causality viz. as Causae sine quibus non or mediate and improper causes or as Dr. Twisse causae dispositivae c. The like may be said of Love and of others in the same station These are but meer affirmations and contain no reasons to confirme only in the latter Thesis seemingly at least is produced the authority of that Antinomian Dr. Twisse but with so fine a conveyance as that he may be kept in or left out at pleasure if Mr. Baxter be dealt with to make good his allegation of him He knowes the name and authority of Dr. Twisse to be great and amiable as an eminent servant of Christ and patron of his truth He concludes therefore that his assertions will be swallowed with the more facility having such an authority to sweeten and fortifie them Therefore so interserteth his Testimony that his Reader may suppose Dr. Twisse to affirm works to be causas dispositivas of justification I neither have read all that Dr. Twisse hath written neither do I so far trust my memory as to deny it flatly and peremptorily Yet by knowing Dr. Twisse aright I am as confident that Bellarmine hath taught the righteousnesse of justification to be meerly by imputation and our justification only by faith as that Dr. Twisse hath any way affirmed works in this or any other respect to prevent or operate to our justification If he did why doth not Mr. Baxter quote the place as elsewhere he doth very diligently when the Testimony of the Author makes for him or why in the end of his Appendix where he sucks out of Dr. Twisse and others all that he thinks may make for his advantage doth he not cite this so pregnant a Testimony But he hath left to himself an evasion that when he hath beguiled whom he can with such an authority being found at last he can answer his meaning is the term or phrase viz. causa dispositiva upon some other not to this Argument is that which Dr. Twisse useth I finde him indeed calling works causas sine quibus non or dispositivas salutis of our salvation or glorification never of our justification And so far is he from attributing under this term what Mr. Baxter attributeth that he seriously abandoneth it So he expresseth himself Vind. Lib. 1. Par. 2. Sect. 2. Proxime finem Vix majus pâ—ceatum est quam justificationem quaerere ex operibus and almost in the next words Nullum opus Deo gratiuâ— acceptius est quam sibi justitiae suae in negotiosalutis renunt iare et in Christo unice confidere But come we now to that which he speaks for confirmation the first part consists in prefacing His own conscience telling him that it is a Pharisaicall Popish principle which he hear positeth he forelayes his Proeme to the proofe thereof thus B. I know this is the doctrine that will have the loudest out-cries raised against it and will make some cry out Heresie Popery Socinianism and what not For mine own part the searcher of hearts knoweth that not singularity affection of novelty nor any goodwill to Popery provoketh me to entertain it but that I have earnestly sought the Lords direction upon my knees before I durst adventure on it and that I resisted the light of this conclusion as long as I was able but a man cannot force his own understanding if the evidence of truth force it not though he may force his pen or tongue to silence or dissembling That which I shall do further is to give you some proofs c. First here a word to such Ministers as being more the disciples of men then of Christ and better versed in Sophistry then Divinity do only not deify Mr. Baxter maintaining all his doctrine in this book to be the doctrine of all the Protestant Churches Why do they anger the man in charging him with so low a spirit that he hath nothing but what is common with him and the most eminent lights in the Church will not he be offended at it doth he not here in some kind pronounce himself a dissenter and that what he here asserteth is that which the Protestant Churches detest as heresie doth not himself even before experience what acceptance his book would have as it were proclaime himself in this point departed from us into the Tents of Papists and Socinians As to Mr. Baxter 1. We have before granted to him that he gives no cause of suspicion that affection of singularity and novelty hath drawn him into this opinion For he is not herein singular nor is his doctrine new but such as the Phariâ—ees in Christs time and the false Apostles in the Apostles times and the worst of Hereticks from thence unto our dayes have unanimously pestered the Church with Yet in this I appeal to Mr. Baxter whether some affection of repute by being a deviser of a new way and new Arguments for the confirmation of this old Popish Socinian doctrine hath not possessed him 2. Whether the searcher of