way of handling sacred things But the Spiritual Amplitude of Divine Truths is restrained hereby whilst low mean Philosophical senses are imposed on them And not only so but endless Divisions and Contentions are occasioned and perpetuated Hence when any Difference in Religion is in the pursuit of Controversies about it brought into the field of Metaphysical Respects and Philosophical terms whereof there is 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 sufficient provision for the supply of the Combatants on both sides the truth for the most part as unto any concernment of the souls of men therein is utterly lost and buried in the rubbish of senseless and unprofitable words And thus in particular those who seem to be well enough agreed in the whole Doctrine of Justification so far as the Scripture goeth before them and the Experience of Believers keeps them company when once they ingage into their Philosophical Definitions and Distinctions are at such an irreconcilable variance among themselves as if they were agreed on no one thing that doth concern it For as men have various apprehensions in coining such Definitions as may be defensible against Objections which most men aim at therein So no Proposition can be so plain at least in materia probabili but that a man ordinarily versed in Paedagogical Terms and Metaphysical Notions may multiply Distinctions on every word of it 8. Hence there hath been a pretence and appearance of twenty several Opinions among Protestants about Justification as Bellarmine and Vasquez and others of the Papists charge it against them out of Osiander when the Faith of them all was one and the same Bellar. lib. 5. cap. 1. Vasq. in 1.2 Quaest. 113. disp 202. whereof we shall speak elsewhere When men are once advanced into that field of Disputation which is all overgrown with thorns of subtilties perplexed notions and futilous terms of Art they consider principally how they may entangle others in it scarce at all how they may get out of it themselves And in this posture they oftentimes utterly forget the business which they are about especially in this matter of Justification namely how a guilty Sinner may come to obtain Favour and Acceptance with God And not only so but I doubt they oftentimes dispute themselves beyond what they can well abide by when they return home unto a sedate meditation of the state of things between God and their own souls And I cannot much value their notions and sentiments of this matter who object and answer themselves out of a sense of their own Appearance before God much less of theirs who evidence an open inconformity unto the Grace and truth of this Doctrine in their hearts and lives 9. Wherefore we do but trouble the faith of Christians and the peace of the true Church of God whilst we dispute about Expressions Terms and Notions when the substance of the Doctrine intended may be declared and believed without the knowledge understanding or use of any of them Such are all those in whose subtile management the captious Art of wrangling doth principally consist A diligent Attendance unto the Revelation made hereof in the Scripture and an examination of our own experience thereby is the Sum of what is required of us for the right understanding of the truth herein And every true Believer who is taught of God knows how to put his whole trust in Christ alone and the Grace of God by him for Mercy Righteousness and Glory and not at all concern himself with those loads of thorns and briars which under the names of Definitions Distinctions accurate Notions in a number of Exotick Paedagogical and Philosophical terms some pretend to accommodate them withall 10. The Holy Ghost in expressing the most eminent Acts in our Justification especially as unto our Believing or the acting of that faith whereby we are justified is pleased to make use of many Metaphorical Expressions For any to use them now in the same way and to the same purpose is esteemed rude undisciplinary and even ridiculous but on what Grounds He that shall deny that there is more spiritual sense and experience conveyed by them into the hearts and minds of Believers which is the life and soul of teaching things practical than in the most accurate Philosophical expressions is himself really ignorant of the whole Truth in this matter The Propriety of such Expressions belongs and is confined unto natural science but spiritual Truths are to be taught not in the words which mans wisdom teacheth but which the Holy Ghost teacheth comparing spiritual things with spiritual God is wiser then man and the Holy Ghost knows better what are the most expedient ways for the Illumination of our minds with that knowledge of Evangelical Truths which it is our Duty to have and attain then the wisest of us all And other knowledge of or skill in these things then what is required of us in a way of Duty is not to be valued It is therefore to no purpose to handle the mysteries of the Gospel as if Holcot and Bricot Thomas and Gabriel with all the Sententiarists Summists and Quodlibetarians of the old Roman Peripatetical School were to be raked out of their Graves to be our guides Especially will they be of no use unto us in this Doctrine of Justification For whereas they pertinaciously adhered unto the Philosophy of Aristotle who knew nothing of any Righteousness but what is an habit inherent in our selves and the Acts of it they wrested the whole Doctrine of Justification unto a compliance therewithall So Pighius himself complained of them Controv. 2. Dissimulare non possumus hanc vel primam doctrinae Christianae partem de Justificatione obscuratam magis quam illustratam a scholasticis spinosis plerisque quaestionibus definitionibus secundum quas nonnulli magno supercilio primam in omnibus autoritatem arrogantes c. Secondly A due consideration of him with whom in this matter we have to do and that immediately is necessary unto a right stating of our thoughts about it The Scripture expresseth it emphatically that it is God that justifieth Rom. 8. 33. And he assumes it unto himself as his Prerogative to do what belongs thereunto I even I am he that blotteth out thy transgressions for mine own sake and will not remember thy sins Isa. 43.25 And it is hard in my Apprehension to suggest unto him any other reason or consideration of the pardon of our sins seeing he hath taken it on him to do it for his own sake that is for the Lords sake Dan. 9.17 in whom all the seed of Israel are justified Isa. 45.25 In his sight before his Tribunal it is that men are justified or condemned Psal. 143.2 Enter not into Judgement with thy servant for in THY SIGHT shall no man living be justified And the whole work of Justification with all that belongeth thereunto is represented after the manner of a Juridical proceeding before Gods Tribunal as we shall see afterwards Therefore saith the Apostle
of the pardon of sin for the satisfaction of Christ and the infusion of an habit of Grace enabling us to perform those Works is declared by those who so express themselves Some add that this inherent personal Evangelical Righteousness is the condition on our part of our legal Righteousness or of the Imputation of the Righteousness of Christ unto our Justification or the pardon of sin And those by whom the satisfaction and merit of Christ are denied make it the only and whole condition of our absolute Justification before God So speak all the Socinians constantly For they deny our Obedience unto Christ to be either the meritorious or efficient cause of our Justification only they say it is the Condition of it without which God hath decreed that we shall not be made partakers of the Benefit thereof So doth Socinus himself De Justificat pag. 17. Sunt opera nostra id est ut dictum fuit Obedientia quam Christo praestamus licet nec efficiens nec meritoria tamen causa est ut vocant sine qua non Justificationis coram Deo atque aeternae nostrae Again pag. 14. inter Opuscul Vt cavendum est ne vitae sanctitatem atque innocentiam effectum Justificationis nostrae coram Deo esse credamus neque illam nostrae coram Deo Justificationis causam efficientem aut impulsivam esse affirmemus sed tantummodo causam sine qua eam Justificationem nobis non contingere decrevit Deus And in all their discourses to this purpose they assert our personal Righteousness and Holiness or our Obedience unto the commands of Christ which they make to be the Form and Essence of Faith to be the Condition whereon we obtain Justification or the Remission of sins And indeed considering what their Opinion is concerning the person of Christ with their denial of his satisfaction and merit it is impossible they should frame any other Idea of Justification in their minds But what some among our selves intend by a compliance with them herein who are not necessitated thereunto by a prepossession with their Opinions about the Person and Mediation of Christ I know not For as for them all their notions about Grace Conversion to God Justification and the like Articles of our Religion they are nothing but what they are necessarily cast upon by their Hypothesis about the Person of Christ. At present I shall only enquire into that peculiar Evangelical Justification which is asserted to be the effect of our own Personal Righteousness or to be granted us thereon And hereunto we may observe 1. That God doth require in and by the Gospel a sincere Obedience of all that do believe to be performed in and by their own Persons though through the Aids of Grace supplied unto them by Jesus Christ. He requireth indeed Obedience Duties and Works of Righteousness in and of all Persons whatever But the consideration of them which are performed before believing is excluded by all from any causality or interest in our Justification before God At least whatever any may discourse of the necessity of such Works in a way of preparation unto believing whereunto we have spoken before none bring them into the verge of Works Evangelical or Obedience of Faith which would imply a contradiction But that the Works enquired after are necessary unto all Believers is granted by all on what Grounds and unto what Ends we shall enquire afterwards they are declared Ephes. 2.10 2. It is likewise granted that Believers from the performance of this Obedience or these Works of Righteousness are denominated Righteous in the Scripture and are personally and internally Righteous Luke 1.6 Joh. 3.7 But yet this denomination is no where given unto them with respect unto Grace habitually inherent but unto the effects of it in Duties of Obedience as in the places mentioned They were both Righteous before God walking in all the Commandments and Ordinances of the Lord blameless The latter words give the Reason of the former or their being esteemed Righteous before God And he that doth Righteousness is Righteous the denomination is from doing And Bellarmine endeavouring to prove that it is habitual not actual Righteousness which is as he speaks the formal cause of our Justification before God could not produce one Testimony of Scripture wherein any One is denominated Righteous from habitual Righteousness De Justificat lib. 2. cap. 15. but is forced to attempt the proof of it with this absurd Argument namely that we are justified by the Sacraments which do not work in us Actual but Habitual Righteousness And this is sufficient to discover the insufficiency of a Pretence for any Interest of our own Righteousness from this Denomination of being Righteous thereby seeing it hath not respect unto that which is the principal part thereof 3. This Inherent Righteousness taking it for that which is habitual and actual is the same with our Sanctification neither is there any difference between them only they are divers names of the same thing For our Sanctification is the inherent Renovation of our Natures exerting and acting it self in newness of Life or Obedience unto God in Christ and works of Righteousness But Sanctification and Justification are in the Scripture perpetually distinguished whatever respect of causality the one of them may have unto the other And those who do confound them as the Papists do do not so much dispute about the Nature of Justification as endeavour to prove that indeed there is no such thing as Justification at all For that which would serve most to enforce it namely the pardon of sin they place in the exclusion and extinction of it by the Infusion of inherent Grace which doth not belong unto Justification 4. By this inherent Personal Righteousness we may be said several ways to be justified As 1 In our own Consciences in as much as it is an Evidence in us and unto us of our Participation of the Grace of God in Christ Jesus and of our Acceptance with him which hath no small Influence into our Peace So speaks the Apostle Our rejoycing is this the Testimony of our Conscience that in simplicity and godly sincerity not with fleshly Wisdom but by the Grace of God we have had our Conversation in the World 2. Cor. 1.12 who yet disclaims any confidence therein as unto his Justification before God For saith he although I know nothing by my self yet am I not thereby justified 1 Cor. 4.4 2 Hereby may we be said to be justified before men that is acquitted of evils laid unto our charge and approved as righteous and unblameable For the state of things is so in the World as that the Professors of the Gospel ever were and ever will be evil spoken of as evil doers The Rule given them to acquit themselves so as that at length they may be acquitted and justified by all that are not absolutely blinded and hardened in wickedness is that of an holy and fruitful walking in
Righteous and the Sons of God then may Christ by the imputation of our unrighteousness be said to be a sinner and a child of the Devil Ans. 1 That which the Scripture affirms concerning the imputation of our sins unto Christ is that he was made sin for us This the Greek Expositors Chrysostome Theophylact and Oecumenius with many others take for a sinner But all affirm that denomination to be taken from imputation only he had sin imputed unto him and underwent the punishment due unto it as we have Righteousness imputed unto us and enjoy the benefit of it 2 The imputation of sin unto Christ did not carry along with it any thing of the pollution or filth of sin to be communicated unto him by transfusion a thing impossible so that no denomination can thence arise which should include in it any respect unto them A thought hereof is impious and dishonourable unto the Son of God But his being made sin through the imputation of the guilt of sin is his honour and glory 3 The imputation of the sin of Fornicators Idolaters Adulterers c. such as the Corinthians were before their Conversion unto Christ doth not on any ground bring him under a denomination from those sins For they were so in themselves actively inherently subjectively and thence were so called But that he who knew no sin voluntarily taking on him to answer for the guilt of those sins which in him was an act of Righteousness and the highest Obedience unto God should be said to be an Idolater c. is a fond imagination The denomination of a sinner from sin inherent actually committed defiling the Soul is a reproach and significative of the utmost unworthiness But even the denomination of a sinner by the imputation of sin without the least personal guilt or defilement being undergone by him unto whom it is imputed in an act of the highest Obedience and tending unto the greatest glory of God is highly honourable and glorious But 4 The imputation of sin unto Christ was antecedent unto any real union between him and sinners whereon he took their sin on him as he would and for what ends he would But the imputation of his Righteousness unto Believers is consequential in order of nature unto their union with him whereby it becomes theirs in a peculiar manner so as that there is not a parity of reason that he should be esteemed a sinner as that they should be accounted Righteous And 5 we acquiesce in this that on the imputation of sin unto Christ it is said that God made him to be sin for us which he could not be but thereby and he was so by an act transient in its effects for a time only that time wherein he underwent the punishment due unto it But on the imputation of his Righteousness unto us we are made the Righteousness of God with an everlasting Righteousness that abides ours always 6 To be a child of the Devil by sin is to do the works of the Devil Joh. 8.44 But the Lord Christ in taking our sins upon him when imputed unto him did the work of God in the highest act of holy Obedience evidencing himself to be the Son of God thereby and destroying the work of the Devil So foolish and impious is it to conceive that any absolute change of state or relation in him did ensue thereon That by the Righteousness of God in this place our own Faith and Obedience according to the Gospel as some would have it are intended is so alien from the scope of the place and sense of the words as that I shall not particularly examine it The Righteousness of God is revealed to Faith and received by Faith and is not therefore Faith it self And the force of the Antithesis is quite perverted by this conceit For where is it in this that he was made sin by the imputation of our sin unto him and we are made Righteousness by the imputation of our own Faith and Obedience unto our selves But as Christ had no concern in sin but as God made him sin it was never in him inherently so have we no interest in this Righteousness it is not in us inherently but only is imputed unto us Besides the act of God in making us righteous is his justifying of us But this is not by the infusion of the habit of Faith and Obedience as we have proved And what act of God is intended by them who affirm That the Righteousness of God which we are made is our own Righteousness I know not The constitution of the Gospel Law it cannot be for that makes no Man righteous And the Persons of Believers are the object of this act of God and that as they are considered in Christ. Gal. 2.16 The Epistle of the same Apostle unto the Galatians is wholly designed unto the vindication of the Doctrine of Justification by Christ without the Works of the Law with the use and means of its improvement The sum of his whole design is laid down in the repetition of his words unto the Apostle Peter on the occasion of his failure there related Chap. 2.86 Knowing that a Man is not justified by the Works of the Law but by the Faith of Jesus Christ even we have believed on Jesus Christ that we might be justified by the Faith of Christ and not by the Works of the Law for by the Works of the Law shall no flesh be justified That which he doth here assert was such a known such a fundamental principle of Truth among all Believers that their conviction and knowledge of it was the ground and occasion of their transition and passing over from Judaism unto the Gospel and Faith in Jesus Christ thereby And in the words the Apostle determines that great inquiry how or by what means a Man is or may be justified before God The subject spoken of is expressed indefinitely A Man that is any Man a Jew or a Gentile a Believer or an Vnbeliever The Apostle that spake and they to whom he spake the Galatians to whom he wrote who also for some time had believed and made Profession of the Gospel The answer given unto the question is both Negative and Positive both asserted with the highest assurance and as the common faith of all Christians but only those who had been carried aside from it by Seducers He asserts that this is not this cannot be by the Works of the Law What is intended by the Law in these disputations of the Apostle hath been before declared and evinced The Law of Moses is sometimes signally intended not absolutely but as it was the present instance of Mens cleaving unto the Law of Righteousness and not submitting themselves thereon unto the Righteousness of God But that the consideration of the Moral Law and the duties of it is in this Argument any where excepted by him is a weak imagination yea it would except the Ceremonial Law it self for the observation of it whilest
have made some undue Assumptions on his own behalf The Question was now reduced unto this on what Grounds he might or could be justified in the sight of God To prepare his mind unto a right Judgement in this case God manifests his Glory unto him and instructs him in the Greatness of His Majesty and Power And this he doth by a multiplication of Instances because under our Temptations we are very slow in admitting right conceptions of God Here the Holy man quickly acknowledged that the state of the case was utterly altered All his former pleas of Faith Hope and Trust in God of sincerity in Obedience which with so much earnestness he before insisted on are now quite laid aside He saw well enough that they were not pleadable at the Tribunal before which he now appeared so that God should enter into Judgment with him thereon with respect unto his Justification Wherefore in the deepest self-abasement and abhorrency he betakes himself unto Soveraign Grace and Mercy For then Job answered the Lord and said behold I am vile what shall I answer thee I will lay mine hand upon my mouth once have I spoken but I will not answer yea twice but I will proceed no farther Job 40.3 4 5 And again Hear I beseech thee and I will speak I will demand of thee and declare thou unto me I have heard of thee by the hearing of the Ear but now mine Eye seeth thee wherefore I abhor my self and repent in dust and ashes chap. 42.4 5 6. Let any men place themselves in the Condition wherein now Job was in the immediate presence of God Let them attend unto what he really speaks unto them in his word namely what they will answer unto the Charge that he hath against them and what will be their best plea before his Tribunal that they may be Justified I do not believe that any man living hath more encouraging Grounds to plead for an interest in his own Faith and Obedience in his Justification before God then Job had although I suppose he had not so much skill to manage a plea to that purpose with Scholastick notions and distinctions as the Jesuits have But however we may be harnessed with subtile Arguments and Solutions I fear it will not be safe for us to adventure farther upon God then he durst to do There was of old a Direction for the visitation of the Sick composed as they say by Anselm and published by Casparus Vlenhergius which expresseth a better sense of these things then some seem to be convinced of Credisne te non posse salvari nisi per mortem Christi Respondet infirmus Etiam tum dicit illi Age Ergo dum superest in te anima in hac sola morte fiduciam tuam constitue in nulla alia re fiduciam habe huic morti te totum committe hac sola te totum contege totum immisce te in hac morte in hac morte totum te involve Et si Dominus te voluerit judicare Dic Domine mortem Domini nostri Jesu Christi objicio inter me tuum Judicium aliter tecum non contendo Et si tibi dixerit quia peccator es dic mortem Domini nostri Jesu Christi pono inter me peccata mea Si dixerit tibi quod meruisti damnationem dic Domine mortem Domini nostri Jesu Christi obtendo inter te mala merita mea ipsiusque merita offero pro merito quod ego debuissem habere nec habeo si dixerit quod tibi est iratus dic Domine mortem Domini Jesu Christi oppono inter me iram tuam That is Dost thou believe that thou canst not be saved but by the death of Christ The sick man answereth yes then let it be said unto him Go to then and whilst thy Soul abideth in thee put all thy confidence in this death alone place thy trust in no other thing commit thy self wholly to this Death cover thy self wholly with this alone cast thy self wholly on this Death wrap thy self wholly in this Death And if God would judge thee say Lord I place the Death of our Lord Jesus Christ between me and thy judgment and otherwise I will not contend or enter into Judgment with thee And if he shall say unto thee that thou art a sinner say I place the Death of our Lord Jesus Christ between me and my sins If he shall say unto thee that thou hast deserved damnation say Lord I put the Death of our Lord Jesus Christ between thee and all my sins and I offer his merits for my own which I should have and have not If he say that he is angry with thee say Lord I place the Death of our Lord Jesus Christ between me and thy Anger Those who gave these Directions seem to have been sensible of what it is to appear before the Tribunal of God and how unsafe it will be for us there to insist on any thing in our selves Hence are the words of the same Anselm in his Meditations Conscientia mea meruit damnationem penitentia mea non sufficit ad satisfactionem sed certum est quod misericordia tua superat omnem offensionem My Conscience hath deserved damnation and my Repentance is not sufficient for satisfaction but most certain it is that thy mercy aboundeth above all offence And this seems to me a better Direction then those more lately given by some of the Roman Church Such is the prayer suggested unto a sick man by Johan Polandus lib. Methodus in adjuvandis morientibus Domine Jesu conjunge obsecro obsequium meum cum omnibus quae tu egisti passus es ex tam perfecta Charitate Obedientia Et cum divitiis satisfactionum meritorum Dilectionis Patri aeterno illud offerre digneris Or that of a greater Author Antidot Animae fol. 17. Tu hinc o rosea Martyrum turba offer pro me nunc in hora mortis meae merita fidelitatum constantiae pretiosi sanguinis cum sanguine Agni immaculati pro omnium salute effust Hierom long before Anselm spake to the same purpose Cum dies Judicij aut dormitionis advenerit omnes manus dissolventur quibus dicitur in alio loco confortamini manus dissolutae dissolventur auntem manus quia nullum opus dignum Dei justitia reperiatur non justificabitur in conspectu ejus omnis vivens unde Propheta dicit in Psalmo si iniquitates attendas Domine quis sustinebit lib. 6. in Isa. in cap. 13. v. 6 7. When the day of Judgement or of Death shall come all hands will be dissolved that is faint or fall down unto which it is said in another place be strengthened ye hands that hang down But all hands shall be melted down that is all mens strength and confidence shall fail them because no works shall be found which can answer the Righteousness of God for no flesh shall be
God Wherefore the Covenant of Grace could not be procured by any means or cause but that which was the cause of this Covenant of the Mediator or of God the Father with the Son as undertaking the work of Mediation And as this is no where ascribed unto the Death of Christ in the Scripture so to assert it is contrary unto all spiritual Reason and Understanding Who can conceive that Christ by his death should procure the Agreement between God and him that he should dye 3. With respect unto the Declaration of it by especial Revelation This we may call Gods making or establishing of it if we please though making of the Covenant in Scripture is applied principally if not only unto its execution or actual Application unto Persons 2 Sam. 23.5 Jerem. 32.40 This Declaration of the Grace of God and the provision in the Covenant of the Mediator for the making of it effectual unto his Glory is most usually called the Covenant of Grace And this is twofold 1. In the way of a singular and absolute Promise so was it first declared unto and established with Adam and afterwards with Abraham The Promise is the Declaration of the Purpose of God before declared or the free Determination and Counsel of his Will as to his dealing with sinners on the supposition of the Fall and their forfeiture of their first Covenant state Hereof the Grace and Will of God was the only cause Heb. 8.8 And the Death of Christ could not be the means of its procurement For he himself and all that he was to do for us was the substance of that Promise And this Promise as it is declarative of the Purpose or Counsel of the Will of God for the Communication of Grace and Glory unto sinners in and by the mediation of Christ according to the Ways and on the Terms prepared and disposed in his Soveraign Wisdom and Pleasure is formally the New Covenant though something yet is to be added to compleat its Application unto us Now the substance of the first Promise wherein the whole Covenant of Grace was virtually comprized directly respected and expressed the giving of him for the Recovery of Mankind from sin and misery by his death Gen. 3.15 Wherefore if he and all the Benefits of his Mediation his Death and all the Effects of it be contained in the Promise of the Covenant that is in the Covenant it self then was not his death the procuring cause of that Covenant nor do we owe it thereunto 2. In the additional prescription of the way and means whereby it is the Will of God that we shall enter into a Covenant state with him or be interessed in the Benefits of it This being virtually comprized in the absolute Promise for every Promise of God doth tacitly require Faith and Obedience in us is expressed in other places by the way of the Condition required on our part This is not the Covenant but the Constitution of the Terms on our part whereon we are made Partakers of it Nor is the Constitution of these Terms an effect of the death of Christ or procured thereby It is a meer effect of the Soveraign Grace and Wisdom of God The things themselves as bestowed on us communicated unto us wrought in us by Grace are all of them effects of the death of Christ but the Constitution of them to be the Terms and Conditions of the Covenant is an Act of meer Soveraign Wisdom and Grace God so loved the world as to send his only begotten Son to dye not that Faith and Repentance might be the means of Salvation but that all his Elect might believe and that all that believe might not perish but have Life Everlasting But yet it is granted that the Constitution of these Terms of the Covenant doth respect the foederal Transaction between the Father and the Son wherein they were ordered to the praise of the Glory of Gods Grace and so although their constitution was not the procurement of his Death yet without respect unto it it had not been Wherefore the sole cause of Gods making the New Covenant was the same with that of giving Christ himself to be our Mediator namely the Purpose Counsel Goodness Grace and Love of God as it is every where expressed in the Scripture 4 thly The Covenant may be considered as unto the actual Application of the Grace Benefit and Priviledges of it unto any persons whereby they are made real partakers of them or are taken into Covenant with God And this alone in the Scripture is intended by Gods making a Covenant with any It is not a general Revelation or Declaration of the Terms and Nature of the Covenant which some call an universal conditional Covenant on what Grounds they know best seeing the very formal nature of making a Covenant with any includes the actual Acceptation of it and Participation of the Benefits of it by them but a Communication of the Grace of it accompanied with a prescription of Obedience that is Gods making his Covenant with any as all Instances of it in the Scripture do declare It may be therefore enquired what respect the Covenant of Grace hath unto the Death of Christ or what Influence it hath thereunto I answer supposing what is spoken of his being a surety thereof it hath a threefold respect thereunto 1. In that the Covenant as the Grace and Glory of it were prepared in the Counsel of God as the Terms of it was fixed in the Covenant of the Mediator and as it was declared in the Promise was confirmed ratified and made irrevocable thereby This our Apostle insists upon at large Heb. 9.15 16 17 18 19 20. And he compares his Blood in his Death and Sacrifice of himself unto the Sacrifices and their Blood whereby the Old Covenant was confirmed purified dedicated or established ver 18 19. Now these Sacrifices did not procure that Covenant or prevail with God to enter into it but only ratified and confirmed it and this was done in the New Covenant by the Blood of Christ. 2. He thereby underwent and performed all that which in the Righteousness and Wisdom of God was required that the Effects Fruits Benefits and Grace intended designed and prepared in the New Covenant might be effectually accomplished and communicated unto sinners Hence although he procured not the Covenant for us by his death yet he was in his Person Mediation Life and Death the only cause and means whereby the whole Grace of the Covenant is made effectual unto us For 3. All the Benefits of it were procured by him that is all the Grace Mercy Priviledges and Glory that God hath prepared in the Counsel of his Will that were fixed as unto the way of this communication in the Covenant of the Mediator and proposed in the Promises of it are purchased merited and procured by his Death and effectually communicated or applied unto all the Covenanters by virtue thereof with others of his Mediatory Acts. And this
to Faith acting it self by Repentance So the sole Reason of that Call unto Repentance which the forgiveness of sins is annexed unto Act. 2.38 is the Proposal of the Promise which is the Object of Faith ver 39. And those Conceptions and Affections which a man hath about sin with a sorrow for it and Repentance of it upon a legal Conviction being enlivened and made Evangelical by the Introduction of Faith as a new Principle of them and giving new Motives unto them do become Evangelical so impossible is it that Faith should be without Repentance Wherefore although the first Act of Faith and its only proper exercise unto Justification doth respect the Grace of God in Christ and the way of Salvation by him as proposed in the Promise of the Gospel yet is not this conceived in order of time to precede its actings in self-displicency godly sorrow and universal conversion from sin unto God nor can it be so seeing it virtually and radically containeth all of them in it self However therefore Evangelical Repentance is not the Condition of our Justification so as to have any direct Influence thereinto nor are we said any where to be justified by Repentance nor is it conversant about the proper object which alone the Soul respects therein nor is a direct and immediate giving Glory unto God on the account of the way and work of his Wisdom and Grace in Christ Jesus but a consequent thereof nor is that Reception of Christ which is expresly required unto our Justification and which alone is required thereunto yet is it in the Root Principle and Promptitude of mind for its exercise in every one that is justified then when he is justified And it is peculiarly proposed with respect unto the Forgiveness of sins as that without which it is impossible we should have any true sense or comfort of it in our Souls but it is not so as any part of that Righteousness on the consideration whereof our sins are pardoned nor as that whereby we have an Interest therein These things are plain in the divine method of our Justification and the order of our Duty prescribed in the Gospel as also in the experience of them that do believe Wherefore considering the necessity of legal Repentance unto Believing with the sanctification of the Affections exercised therein by Faith whereby they are made Evangelical and the nature of Faith as including in it a principle of universal conversion unto God and in especial of that Repentance which hath for its principal motive the Love of God and of Jesus Christ with the Grace from thence communicated all which are supposed in the Doctrine pleaded for the necessity of true Repentance is immoveably fixed on its proper Foundation 3. As unto what was said in the Objection concerning Christs suffering in the Person of the Elect I know not whether any have used it or no nor will I contend about it He suffered in their stead which all sorts of Writers ancient and modern so express in his suffering he bare the Person of the Church The meaning is what was before declared Christ and Believers are one mystical Person one spiritually animated Body Head and Members This I suppose will not be denied To do so is to overthrow the Church and the Faith of it Hence what he did and suffered is imputed unto them And it is granted that as the Surety of the Covenant he paid all our Debts or answered for all our faults and that his Righteousness is really communicated unto us Why then say some there is no need of Repentance all is done for us already But why so why must we assent to one part of the Gospel unto the exclusion of another Was it not free unto God to appoint what way method and order he would whereby these things should be communicated unto us nay upon the supposition of the design of his Wisdom and Grace these two things were necessary 1. That this Righteousness of Christ should be communicated unto us and be made ours in such a way and manner as that he himself might be glorified therein seeing he hath disposed all things in this whole Oeconomy unto the praise of the Glory of his Grace Ephes. 1.6 This was to be done by Faith on our part It is so it could be no otherwise For that Faith whereby we are justified is our giving unto God the Glory of his Wisdom Grace and Love And whatever doth so is Faith and nothing else is so 2. That whereas our nature was so corrupted and depraved as that continuing in that state it was not capable of a Participation of the Righteousness of Christ or any benefit of it unto the Glory of God and our own Good it was in like manner necessary that it should be renewed and changed And unless it were so the Design of God in the Mediation of Christ which was the entire Recovery of us unto himself could not be attained And therefore as Faith under the formal consideration of it was necessary unto the first end namely that of giving Glory unto God so unto this latter end it was necessary that this Faith should be accompanied with yea and contain in it self the seeds of all those other Graces wherein the Divine Nature doth consist whereof we are to be made Partakers Not only therefore the thing it self or the communication of the Righteousness of Christ unto us but the way and manner and means of it do depend on Gods Soveraign order and disposal Wherefore although Christ did make satisfaction unto the Justice of God for all the sins of the Church and that as a common person for no man in his Wits can deny but that he who is a Mediator and a Surety is in some sense a common person and although he did pay all our Debts yet doth the particular Interest of this or that man in what he did and suffered depend on the way means and order designed of God unto that end This and this alone gives the true necessity of all the Duties which are required of us with their order and their ends 3 ly It is objected That the Imputation of the Righteousness of Christ which we defend overthrows the necessity of Faith it self This is home indeed Aliquid adhaerebit is the Design of all these Objections But they have Reason to plead for themselves who make it For on this supposition they say the Righteousness of Christ is ours before we do believe For Christ satisfied for all our sins as if we had satisfied in our own persons And he who is esteemed to have satisfied for all his sins in his own person is acquitted from them all and accounted just whether he believe or no nor is there any Ground or Reason why he should be required to believe If therefore the Righteousness of Christ be really ours because in the judgment of God we are esteemed to have wrought it in him then it is ours before we do believe
occasions are they pester'd withal especially if not under the conduct of the same inlightning spirit that some will confidently condemn others unto eternal flames for those things whereon they place on infallible grounds their hopes of eternal blessedness and know that they love God and live unto him on their account But this wretched advantage of condemning all them of Hell who dissent from them is greedily laid hold of by all sorts of persons For they thereby secretly secure their own whole party in perswasion of eternal Salvation be they otherwise what they will For if the want of that Faith which they profess will certainly damn men whatever else they be and how good soever their lives be many will easily suffer themselves to be deceived with a foolish Sophisme that then that Faith which they profess will assuredly save them be their lives what they please considering how it falls in with their inclinations And hereby they may happen also to frighten poor simple people into a compliance with them whilest they peremptorily denounce Damnation against them unless they do so And none for the most part are more fierce in the denunciation of the condemnatory sentence against others for not believing as they do then those who so live as that if there be any truth in the Scripture it is not possible they should be saved themselves For my part I believe that as to Christians in outward profession all unregenerate unbelievers who obey not the Gospel shall be damned be they of what Religion they will and none else for all that are born again do truly believe and obey the Gospel shall be saved be they of what Religion they will as unto the differences that are at this day among Christians That way wherein these things are most effectually promoted is in the first place to be embraced by every one that takes care of his own Salvation If they are in any way or Church obstructed that Church or way is so far as it doth obstruct them to be forsaken And if there be any way of profession or any visible Church state wherein any thing or things absolutely destructive of or inconsistent with these things are made necessary unto the professors of it in that way and by vertue of it no Salvation is to be obtained In other things every man is to walk according unto the light of his own mind for whatever is not of Faith is sin But I return from this digression occasioned by the fierceness of him with whom we have to do For the Objection it self that hath fallen under so perverse a management so far as it hath any pretense of sobriety in it is this and no other If God justifie the ungodly merely by his Grace through Faith in Christ Jesus so as that works of Obedience are not antecedently necessary unto Justification before God nor are any part of that Righteousness whereon any are so justified then are they no way necessary but men may be justified and saved without them For it is said that there is no connexion between Faith unto Justification as by us asserted and the necessity of Holiness Righteousness or Obedience but that we are by Grace set at liberty to live as we list yea in all manner of sin and yet be secured of Salvation For if we are made Righteous with the Righteousness of another we have no need of any Righteousness of our own And it were well it many of those who make use of this Plea would endeavour by some other way also to evidence their esteem of these things for to dispute for the necessity of Holiness and live in the neglect of it is uncomely I shall be brief in the answer that here shall be returned unto this Objection for indeed it is sufficiently answered or obviated in what hath been before discoursed concerning the nature of that Faith whereby we are justified and the continuation of the moral Law in its force as a rule of Obedience unto all believers An unprejudiced consideration of what hath been proposed on these heads will evidently manifest the Iniquity of this charge and how not the least countenance is given unto it by the Doctrine pleaded for Besides I must acquaint the Reader that some while since I have published an entire Discourse concerning the nature and necessity of Gospel Holiness with the Grounds and Reasons thereof in compliance with the Doctrine of Justification that hath now been declared Nor do I see it necessary to add any thing thereunto nor do I doubt but that the perusal of it will abundantly detect the vanity of this charge Dispensat of the Holy Spirit Book 5. Some few things may be spoken on the present occasion 1. It is not pleaded that all who do profess or have in former ages professed this Doctrine have exemplified it in an holy and fruitful conversation Many it is to be feared have been found amongst them who have lived and dyed in sin Neither do I know but that some have abused this Doctrine to countenance themselves in their sins and neglect of duty The best of holy things or truths cannot be secured from abuse so long as the Sophistry of the old Serpent hath an influence on the lusts and depraved minds of men So was it with them of old who turned the grace of God into lasciviousness or from the Doctrine of it countenanced themselves in their ungodly deeds Even from the beginning the whole Doctrine of the Gospel with the grace of God declared therein was so abused Neither were all that made profession of it immediately rendered Holy and Righteous thereby Many from the first so walked as to make it evident that their Belly was their God and their end destruction It is one thing to have only the conviction of truth in our minds another to have the power of it in our hearts The former will produce an outward profession the later only effect an inward Renovation of our Souls However I must add three things unto this concession 1. I am not satisfied that any of those who at present oppose this Doctrine do in Holiness or Righteousness in the exercise of Faith Love Zeal Self-denial and all other Christian Graces surpass those who in the last ages both in this and other Nations firmly adhered unto it and who constantly testified unto that effectual influence which it had into their walking before God Nor do I know that any can be named amongst us in the former ages who were eminent in Holiness and many such there were who did not cordially assent unto that imputation of the Righteousness of Christ which we plead for I doubt not in the least but that many who greatly differ from others in the explication of this Doctrine may be and are eminently holy at least sincerely so which is as much as the best can pretend unto But it is not comely to find some others who give very little evidence of their diligent following after that
Doctrine and that which would so easily solve this difficulty and answer this objection as both of them are by some pretended certainly neither his wisdom nor his care of the Church under the conduct of the infallible Spirit would have suffered him to omit this reply were it consistent with the truth which he had delivered But he is so far from any such Plea that when the most unavoidable occasion was administred unto it he not only waves any mention of it but in its stead affirms that which plainly evidenceth that he allowed not of it See Eph. 2.9 10. Having positively excluded Works from our Justification not of Works least any man should boast it being natural thereon to enquire to what end do Works serve or is there any necessity of them instead of a distinction of Works legal and Evangelical in order unto our Justification he asserts the necessity of the later on other Grounds Reasons and Motives manifesting that they were those in particular which he excluded as we have seen in the consideration of the place Wherefore that we may not forsake his pattern and example in the same cause seeing he was Wiser and Holier knew more of the mind of God and had more zeal for personal Righteousness and Holiness in the Church than we all if we are pressed a Thousand times with this objection we shall never seek to deliver our selves from it by answering that we allow these things to be the condition or causes of our Justification or the matter of our Righteousness before God seeing he would not so do Secondly we may observe that in his answer unto this objection whether expresly mentioned or tacitly obviated he insisteth not any where upon the common principle of moral Duties but on those motives and reasons of Holiness Obedience good works alone which are peculiar unto Believers For the question was not whether all mankind were obliged unto Obedience unto God and the Duties thereof of by the moral Law But whether there were an Obligation from the Gospel upon Believers unto Righteousness Holiness and good Works such as was suited to affect and constrain their minds unto them Nor will we admit of any other state of the question but this only whether upon the supposition of our gratuitous justification through the imputation of the Righteousness of Christ there are in the Gospel grounds reasons and motives making necessary and efficaciously influencing the minds of Believers unto Obedience and good Works for those who are not Believers we have nothing to do with them in this matter nor do plead that Evangelical grounds and motives are suited or effectual to work them unto Obedience yea we know the contrary and that they are apt both to despise them and abuse them See I Cor. 1.23 24. 2 Cor. 4.4 such persons are under the Law and there we leave them unto the Authority of God in the moral Law But that the Apostle doth confine his enquiry unto Believers is evident in every place wherein he maketh mention of it Rom. 6.2 3. How shall we that are dead unto sin live any longer therein Know ye not that so many of us as were Baptized into Jesus Christ c. Eph. 2.10 For we are the workmanship of God created in Christ Jesus unto good Works Wherefore we shall not at all contend what cogency unto duties of Holiness there is in Gospel motives and reasons unto the minds of Vnbelievers whatever may be the truth in that case But what is their power force and efficacy towards them that truly believe Thirdly The answers which the Apostle returns positively unto this objection wherein he declares the necessity nature ends and use of Evangelical Righteousness and good Works are large and many comprehensive of a great part of the Doctrine of the Gospel I shall only mention the heads of some of them which are the same that we plead in the vindication of the same truth 1. He pleads the Ordination of God God hath before ordained that we should walk in them Eph. 2.10 God hath designed in the disposal of the order of the causes of Salvation that those who believe in Christ should live in walk in abound in good Works and all Duties of Obedience unto God To this end are Precepts Directions Motives and Encouragements every where multiplied in the Scripture Wherefore we say that good Works and that as they include the gradual progressive Renovation of our natures our growth and increase in grace with fruitfulness in our lives are necessary from the Ordination of God from his will and command And what need there any further dispute about the necessity of good Works among them that know what it is to believe or what respect there is in the Souls and Consciences of Believers unto the commands of God But what force say some is in this Command or Ordination of God when notwithstanding it and if we do not apply our selves unto Obedience we shall be justified by the Imputation of the Righteousness of Christ and so may be saved without them I say 1 As was before observed that it is Believers alone concerning whom this enquiry is made and there is none of them but will judge this a most unreasonable and senseless objection as that which ariseth from an utter ignorance of their state and relation unto God To suppose that the minds of Believers are not as much and as effectually influenced with the Authority and Commands of God unto Duty and Obedience as if they were all given in order unto their Justification is to consider neither what Faith is nor what it is to be a Believer nor what is the Relation that we stand in unto God by Faith in Christ Jesus nor what are the Arguments or motives wherewith the minds of such persons are principally affected and constrained This is the Answer which the Apostle gives at large unto this Exception Rom. 6.2 3. 2 The whole fallacy of this Exception is 1 In separating the things that God hath made inseparable These are our Justification and our Sanctification To suppose that the one of these may be without the other is to overthrow the whole Gospel 2 In compounding those things that are distinct namely Justification and eternal actual Salvation the respect of Works and Obedience being not the same unto them both as hath been declared Wherefore this Imagination that the commands of God unto Duty However given and unto what ends soever are not equally obligatory unto the Consciences of Believers as if they were all given in order unto their Justification before God is an absurd figment and which all of them who are truly so defie Yea they have a greater power upon them than they could have if the Duties required in them were in order unto their Justification and so were antecedent thereunto For thereby they must be supposed to have their efficacy upon them before they truly believe For to say that a man may be a true Believer or truly