it was not now for God saith he no nor ever will be to bend the rule of righteousnesse to the crookednesse of our affections that so he might make it answerable to our abilities yes through his promised and premised covenant of grace in Christ but rather to set down a straight rule not in favour of our sinful nature which he hateth but to expresse our whole duty though it be impossible for us after we have lost our ability to perform it What is it so now impossible after that a new supply of grace and assistance is vouchsafed if we seek it For saith he he that hath lent a thousand pounds may without injury demand it of them and when he knoweth that thou hast carelesly spent it and as a Bankrupt art not able to pay a penny which no merciful man will rigorously do unlesse it be to evidence his prodigality and folly so God having given us power to obey his precepts may at any time justly call for the performance of the same though he know that we by our sins have disabled our selves so much as to think a good thought But his thoughts herein are very evil for we have proved before that God cannot in justice and much lesse in mercy require of us that obedience for which we in our persons never received or could receive sufficient power to perform the same Ultra posse viri non vult Deus ulla requiri Pag. 59. he propounds another objection of his adversaries to wit that the regenerate have sufficientia principia operationis that is sufficient means and causes of well doing his soul being enlightned sanctified and assisted by Gods spirit and therefore he may perform what God requires And then he goes about to answer it with mincing the truth and extenuating Gods grace saying a regenerate man is enabled to doe good but not perfectly his undestanding being still obscured his will distempered and his power of doing good hindred by many lustful temptations and therefore these principles of operation being imperfect our actions which proceed from thence must needs be imperfect likewise which he proves with his old mistaken Scriptures Who can tell saith David how often he offendeth cleanse thou me from all my secret sins ye see saith he Saints have their secret sins and he himself wants not his open and manifest enormities I may quoth he have many sins and fail in many things which no man knows of we doubt it not nor yet my selfe which yet are known to God we cannot judge mens hearts Why then doth he judge ours for hypocrisie and carying on new pretended lights in a dark lanthorn for we know not our own it is Gods prerogative to search and try mens reins Jerem. 17.9 1 Joh. 3.20 and it is our duty with Nehemiah to pray chap. 13.12 accept mine obedience but pardon mine iniquity But the man of God doth not pray so there as we have shewed before though he had his former sins also A chosen vessel was compelled to say he knew nothing by himselfe yet was he not thereby justified of which before Thus ye see that his book is stuffed full of tautologies And this saith he may suffice for the clearing of the first branch of the second position Indeed it is pretty well cleared from probability of truth or piety But for further confirmation he dares appeal to any mans conscience that is no more careful then he is to keep it without offence to God and men how upon the consideration of Gods strict judgement and his own manifold infirmities he dare justifie himselfe in any one act not against God but before God But Abimeleck could do it as himself confessed before and Paul could do it for his habitual acts as we shewed before 2 Cor. 1.12 For our rejoycing is this the testimony of our conscience that in simplicity and godly sincerity not in fleshly wisedome and much lesse fleshly lusts but by the grace of God we have had our conversation in the world And I doubt not saith he pag. 60. but the proudest heart would soon tremble and the boldest face save his own would blush and be ashamed to have his best works yea his prayer scanned by the strictnesse of Gods Law and justice But Job could say chap. 6.17 My face is foul with weeping and on my eye-lids is the shadow of death not for any injustice in mine hands also my prayer is pure Hath not the Lord promised Zephan 3.9 Then will I turn to the people a pure language that they may call upon the Lord to fear him with one shoulder or consent and Malach. 1.11 For from the rising of the Sun unto the going down of the same my name shal be great among the Gentiles and in every place incense shall be offered up unto me with a pure offering But he goes on yet more confidently saying And of the adversaries to this truth I require quâ demum authoritate this one thing that they will either produce a man and prove it that hath ever what doth he mean from his youth up without any corruption performed in his own person such perfect obedience to the Law of God as not to offend against the same Unto which we have answered that if ever we knew any such we should not be very forward to shew them to such unbelieving and envious spirits as he is of and we have produced many such already as Caleb Numb 4.24 Josh 14.6 John and his fellow-Apostles 1 Joh. 17.7 with many thousands more Or else saith he let them acknowledge their error with shame and forbear opposing the truth as Jannes and Jambres did Moses and disturbing the peace of Gods Church He might have said the Devils chappel if all the Ministers of Gods Church were like himself But as he is no living member of a true Church which is a congregation of Saints so neither doth our doctrine disturb but further the peace of the true Church of God Act. 9.32 Then had the Churches rest throughout all Judea and Galatia and were edified and walking in the fear of God and in the comfort of the Holy Ghost were multiplied To such Jorams or high-flown spirits as he is Iehu may answer what peace so long as the whoredomes of thy mother Jezebel and her witchcrafts are so many 2 Kings 9.21 for there is no peace to the wicked saith my God Isai 5.21 But he fears first by our malicious wickednesse in decrying sin and opposing Satans kingdom to set up Christs our sin may become unpardonable yet he saith that he shall pray for us as he doth for himself while he continueth in wickednesse not that God would be pleased to convince us of our errours and humble us in the sense of our sins and be merciful to our poor souls because we oppose his sinful positions But we pray that the Lord would vouchsafe him mercy in reality and truth so far as to turn him from his enterprise and then we are
but not in his way which will never make any happy Blessed is the man to whom God imputeth righteousness without works to wit his own works before and without grace And blessed is the man to whom the Lord will not impute sin but purge it away by his grace and Spirit But this righteousness of Christ thus imputed to us saith he page 72 must be considered in a three-fold respect first in respect of the truth of our imputed righteousness which is wholly a fancy and so we say that we are as truly righteous before God as Christ himself Beware of blasphemy whorson Phanatick because we are righteous with the same righteousness with which he is righteous The clean contrary way Secondly in respect of the quantity But so we deny that it is in the same measure he might truly have said in any measure for in him it is in its fulness and in its largest measure but in us it is onely received so far forth as it serveth to justifie any particular believer he should have said dreamer that is not at all Thirdly in respect of the quality And so we say that this is not in the same manner in us as it is in him which is true enough for he is righteous actually we imputatively or passively rather he subjectively we relatively in him and by him that is not at all but by meer relation or tradition and our fond credulity And so saith he in these two last respects we cannot be said to be equally righteous with Christ no nor with the least real Christian who seeks the true righteousness by Christ though we be righteous with the very righteousness of Christ to wit as Laodicea was Rev. 3.17 18. he perfectly righteous we righteous by reason of our imputation and inchoative righteousness Which last if he have any is the best string for his bow by reason the other is a broken one Again saith he Christ is called holy and sin and yet is said to know no sin and to be made sin so likewise are we said to be just and sinful just in him or rather just out by the imputation and application of his justice without any conversion from sin and sinful in our selves by the inbred corruptions of our own flesh which is brought in by our personal fall as we said before Lastly the final cause of our justification actively considered is the glory of God which he acquired unto himself by the wonderful mixture of his justice and mercy towards men justice and mercy also that he would have his own Son die to make satisfaction for our sins yea suffered to procure us some respite of repentance and returning as said before rather then our sins should esape unpunished or we forthwith perish eternally and mercy that he would have the righteousness of his Son be imputed no derived unto his servants rather then we poor sinners should perish for or in our sins But if he have no better skill in compounding his own medicines then he hath made here in this jumble of justice and mercy he is a Physician of no value And thus much saith he page 73. of the causes of justification actively considered in respect of God now in the second place we must consider the causes of our justification passively in respect of man and first the efficient cause passively considered is wholly instrumental and it is two-fold external which is the preaching of the word and the administration of the Sacraments these are the chief outward instruments which God useth for the application of Chrsts supposed righteousness for the imagined justification of his servants and therefore the Gospel is called the word of life Acts 5.15 16. and the ministry of reconciliation 2 Cor. 5.18 and the Sacraments are called the seal of the righteousness of faith and our Saviour saith of the preachers of the Gospel whose sins ye remit or put away they are remitted But are the word and Sacraments passive or active instruments doth not the Apostle say that the Gospel is the power of God unto salvation to every one that believeth Rom. 1.16 Is the man infatuated Secondly the internal instrument whereby we apprehend he should say seek the grace of justification is onely faith in Jesus Christ But that is false for by prayer also we both seek and comprehend the same But Christ is set forth saith he to be a reconciliation through faith in his blood Rom. 3.15 John 1.12 which place he wrests from its native sense Gal. 3.24 and therefore the righteousness of Christ but not in his sense is called the righteousness of faith and we are said to receive Christ by faith and to receive the promise of the Spirit which is the purging blood of Christ by faith Secondly saith he faith is the onely instrument he should have said the main yet no passive instrument as he would have it whereby we are justified before God The Scriptures saith he are plain and plentiful in this point Is 45.21 25. Ezek. 20.44 Hab. 2.4 Rom. 3.24 26. Gal. 1.8 Acts 13.39 But the first of these if rightly looked into cuts the throat of justification for righteousness and strength are joyned together which must intimate the inward and powerful righteousness of God and this it justifies the man Is 45.24 25. where the words runne thus Surely shall one say in the Lord have I righteousness and strength even unto him shall men come and all that are incensed against him shall be ashamed in the Lord shall all the seed of Israel be justified or made just and shall glory Yea that place in Hab. 2.4 shews that he whose soul is lifted up with any knowledge or hope of a false righteousness is not upright in him but the just who is such by any measure of inherent righteousness shall live the full life of righteousness by faith As for Acts 13.39 40. we have spoken of that already And so saith he doth the Apostle in many other places inculcate the same truth as Gal. 4.5 24. and our Saviour saith Joh. 3.14 15. What doth he say there for the Vindicator cites no words namely thus much that as Moses lifted up the serpent in the wilderness that Israel reflecting upon their serpentine sins and rebellion might repent and not die even so must the son of man as crucified both in us and for us Gal. 3.1 be lifted up and set forth before us that whosoever believeth on him as a pattern herein as well as a reconciler through faith follows him unto the like death should not perish but have eternal life that is saith he by his false gloss be justified and so be saved onely by believing in him A short and easie way to be saved if it were true as those Israelites that were bitten by the fiery serpents Num. 21.9 were healed and saved alone by looking up to the brazen serpent The Fathers also saith he are plain and pregnant herein of whom more anon Chrysost in Rom. cap.
the young men shall utterly fail but those that wait upon the Lord shall renew their strength they shall mount with wings as Eagles they shall run and not be weary they shall walk and not faint chap. 42.21 The Lord is well pleased for his righteousnesse sake he will magnifie the Law and make it honourable Which it would not be if it were impossible chap. 48.17 18. Thus faith the Lord thy redeemer the holy one of Israel I am the Lord thy God which teacheth thee to profit which leadeth thee by the way which thou shalt go O that thou hadst harkened to my commandements then had thy peace been as a river and thy righteousnesse as the waves of the sea chap. 51.4 5. Harken unto me my people and give eare O Nation for a Law shall proceed from me and I will make my judgement to rest for a light to the Gentiles my righteousnesse is neer my salvation is gone forth vers 7 8. Harken unto me ye that know righteousnesse the people in whose heart is my Law fear ye not the reproch of men neither be ye afraid of their revisings for the moth shall eat them up like a garment and the worm shall eat them up like wool but my righteousnesse shall be sure and my salvation from generation to generation Jerem. 31.32 33 34. Behold the dayes come saith the Lord that I will make a new covenant with the house of Israel and with the house of Iudah saith the Lord not according to the covenant which I made with their Fathers in the day that I took them by the hand to bring them out of the Land of Egypt which my covenant they broke although I was an Husband unto them or therefore I must overule them saith the Lord but this shall be the covenant which I will make with the house of Israel After those days saith the Lord I will put my Law in their inward parts and write it in their hearts and will be their God and they shall be my people And they shall teach no more every man his neighbour and every man his brother saying know the Lord for they shall all know me from the least of them to the greatest of them saith the Lord for I will forgive their iniquities and remember their sins no more Where take notice of these things that the first covenant is a covenant of works and the effect a compulsive obedience out of fear of vengeance Secondly that the second covenant is made to those that now love God and righteousnesse and obey it out of good will after the days of compulsion are ended which must have their foregoing work to break mans strong lusts and inclinations to sin after which comes the revelation of free mercy and salvation out of grace unexpectedly witnessed from Heaven to the lost yet humbled penitent and praying or deprecating soul which melts his heart with godly sorrow and inflames his heart with love to God and righteousnesse and with an hatred of all known sin Thirdly that this second covenant is of sanctification and then of some degree of glory As to the former the Lord promiseth to put his Law into our inward parts and to work the same in our hearts which is done no other way but by regeneration and by the promised Spirit of Christ which is called the blood of the new covenant and the blood of the everlasting covenant for the purging or the dimission away of our sins whereof both the expiative and consecrating blood of the old Testament was a figure Exod. 24.8 and 14.14 10. and chap. 8.23 24. and whereof the wine in the Sacrament of the Lords Supper in the New Testament is a sign and representation as the bread broken is a representation both of his word to be broken received and eaten Jer. 15.16 and of his suffering patience and weakness which is a body of his to be broken unto us by degrees and received by faith and obedience where through we may remember Christs death and follow him therein crucifying sin till he come unto us in the Spirit and power of his resurrection Thus the Apostle saith ' Heb. 9.14 How much more shall the blood of Christ this Spirit and spiritual blood of Christ who through the eternal Spirit offered himself as man without spot to God purge the consciences or souls from dead works to serve the living God And Heb. 10.29 He that falls from grace counts the blood of this covenant wherewith he was sanctified an unholy thing or a thing of smal price and so doth despite to the Spirit of grace and hence it is that the Apostle prayeth Heb. 13.20 that God who brought again from the dead the Lord Jesus that great shepherd of the sheep would through the blood of the everlasting covenant make the believing Hebrews perfect in every good work to do the will of the Lord as Peter also tells the Saints 1 Pet. 1.18 that they were through the same redeemed or delivered from their vain conversation in a Jewish righteousness received by tradition from their Fathers This blood is promised unto them that walk in the light with God and his Saints 1 John 1.7 But if we walk in the light as he is in the light we have fellowship one with another and the blood of Jesus Christ his Son cleanseth us from all our sin With this blood the Saints washed their robes or imperfect righteousness and made them white Rev. 7.14 with this Christ washed the Apostles and made them Kings and priests unto God Rev. 1.5 6. for which they give him praise and glory and with this is the Devil overcome and cast out Rev. 12.11 A third thing observable in this covenant is that there is a clear full and glorious wisdome promised to each Saint in due time so that they shall not need to say to each other know the Lord for they shall know him from the least of them to the greatest for that perfect knowledge and love is then come which makes the imperfect knowledge and prophecying to cease 1 Cor. 13.8 9. Lastly the time of that perfect wisdome power and love is also limited namely vers 34. in those words for I will forgive their iniquities and remember their sins no more it is then when God hath purged and taken away all their sins by the same blood where forgiving of sins as in many other places is to be understood of the purging them away by Gods grace which we call dimission and that is the principal taking away of sin upon which the pardon or taking away of the guilt follows of course and is cast in over and above out of Gods abundant mercy for the death and sufferings of Christ But to proceed Ezek. 36.25 26 27. we have another of these promises of enabling grace Then will I pour clean water upon you and from all your sins and from all your idols will I cleanse you a new heart also will I give you and a new
to commiserate others who yet through ignorance or infirmity sometime stumble and fall Therefore it is false which he there by way of conclusion speaketh pag. 10. That strive we what we can our infirmities will incompass us and our corruption will be about us so long as we carry flesh about us as we may see in the forenamed instances for Job and others saw God face to face afterwards Job 42.2 as did Abraham Joh. 8.5 6. and Moses Deut. 34.10 That this thorne of sin will be still in our flesh Did Pauls thorne continue alwayes That our Canaanites will be still in our side Did not David subdue all the Canaanites in his time by his sons confession 1 King 5.3 4. so that there was no adversary left That our twins will still be in our womb What did Rebecah go alwayes big That our counterfightings and our counterwillings will still remain Then Christ hath taught us in vain to pray Thy will be done in earth as it is in heaven That though we be like unto Christ per primitias Spiritûs is he himself so yet we are unlike him per reliquias vetustatis but John saith 1 Epist 3.1 3. that every one that hath a true hope to see Christ in his glory purifieth himself as he is pure and Paul Ephes 6.13 and having done all stand fast That not to sin is here our Law Which Law he makes to be impossible and so void but that in heaven it shall be our priviledge which heaven by grace some attain here at length Psal 32.2 and in whose Spirit there is no guile And 119.23 Blessed are they that keep his testimonies and seek him with their whole heart they also do no iniquity they walk in his wayes That all our perfection here is imperfect True in comparison of a greater yet it may be without sin and adequate to the Law Jam. 2.3 8. If ye fulfill the royal Law according to the Scriptures thou shalt love thy neighbour as thy self ye do well Chap. 3.2 If any man sin not in a word the same is a perfect man and able to bridle the whole body 1 Joh. 2.5 6. But whoso keepeth his word in him Verily is the love of God perfected hereby know we that we are in him 1 Joh. 4.17 Herein is our love made perfect that we may have boldness in the day of judgment because as he is so are we in this present world Doth this man read the Scriptures yet saith he further that sin hath its deaths blow given it yet like a fierce and implacable beast it never lets its hold go till the last breath animamque in vulnere ponit it never ceaseth to infest us till it cease to be in us but that may fal out long before we die the natural death as Paul confesseth that old things were past away and all things become new with him 2 Cor. 5.16 and that he was crucified with Christ Gal. 2.20 In the six next pages he hath a new digression about the four-fold state of man Pag. 19. by miscount be saith that in the state of innocency the will was free to good or evil And so it is still while we remain in innocency That it might persist in good God preserving it So it may still First that it might fall into ill God forsaking it So it doth but we forsake him first That God did not confirm the first man against the fall yet he did by his commandement warning and threatning And so he doth still but he never did nor ever will confirm any man by force against his will That he permitteth the first man to be seduced and to fall into sin and death that as many as were saved out of the common ruine might be saved by mercy alone But the common ruine is ours by personal fall and not by our first parents as we have shewed That if in the world there had been no misery there had been no mercy Yea Gods mercy is over all his works Psalm 115.9 yea his mercy is from everlasting We answer it is true for the object of mercy is a miserable creature and there had been goodnesse and bounty to man if he had not sinned That if there had been no misery there had been no need of Christ Yea both to create and to preserve that which is created Heb. 10.1 2 3. That if there been no sin there had been no matter to shew his justice Yes there is justice in rewarding the obedient as well as in punishing the disobedient as we see in rewarding of the good and bad Angels Pag 20. by miscount That sin or the fall is necessary in regard of Gods decree Why did that necessitate man to sin then God must be the first author of sin That the Creator was not bound to the creature to preserve him in his goodnesse True not by any outward Law but by his own goodnesse he was bonitatis enim est creare bonum conservare That God willed the fall to be an occasion of bestowing his greater grace and benefits Then that Grace must be at leastwise as universal as the fall was That mercy ought not to fight with justice Nor doth it if it be offered to all that need it That it is most just that more regard should be had of the chief good then of the creatures Then we must not make him unjust in damning those which never offended him in their own persons to uphold new blasphemous doctrines yet the chief good is most far from all selfenesse and injustice That man at his first creation had not power to will what he would do Yes he had that power so to will but was not forced thereunto nor being created a free agent ought he to be forced to choose this or that That God ows no creature any thing Yes that which he was pleased to promise Pag. 21. That man is fallen by being born of corrupt parents No but by his own personal disobedience Eccles 7.29 Psal 14.23 and 53.23 Hosea 13.9 and 14.1 as before That mans will after the fall works freely but is carried to evil only But doth not Paul allow a man both power to will and run after good though not to be saved thereby when he saith So then it is not in him that willeth or that runneth but in God that sheweth mercy Rom. 9.16 That in this fallen state man can doe nothing but sin What will he say of the Gentiles spoken of Rom. 2.14 When the Gentiles which have not the Law doe by nature the things contained in the Law those saith he having not the Law are a Law unto themselves and of Abimelesk Genesis 20.6 who by Gods own testimony did something in the integrity of his heart That after the fall of the first man ensued the privation of the knowledge of God But neither all at once nor upon his posterity by that fall Rom. 1.19 20 21. because that which may be known of God is manifest in
otherwise saith the Vindicator or his friend for him if he Abraham were justified by the works done without the help of grace he might as vvell glory before God as men which is not true in every behalfe for he received his internal helps from God and not from himself Psalm 100. It is he that made us and not we our selves But the Apostle tels us saith he that although by those works done by the help of grace he might glory before men where doth he tell us so yet not before God and therefore he vvas not justified by those vvorks in the sight of God But as the premisses vvere false so is the conclusion vvhich he dravvs from thence for by every grace of God he vvas justified in some kind of actual righteousnesse and purged from the contrary sin vvhich is the only justification vvhich Paul pleads for in Jesus Christ necessary to life Nor is his next reason lesse absurd vvhere he saith for if vve could be justified by any vvorks hovvsoever done by grace or vvithout grace then the vvages that is eternal life is not counted of favour but of debt Is it not so when vvithout the rich grace of God the duties required unto eternal life cannot be performed But saith he vvhen vve cannot be justified by our ovvn vvorks nor are we so justified but by believing in him that justifieth the ungodly so that he makes them godly that were before ungodly who is in Jesus Christ what are any ungodly that are in Christ see 1 Cor. 6.11 that we are then justified by his righteousnesse and saved by his merits like the hungry dreamer Isai 29.8 who dreameth that he eateth but when he awaketh his soul is empty Then faith saith the Apostle and not any kind of works is imputed to him for righteousnesse Rom. 4.5 But here the new false Apostle John of Burstou corrupteth and falsifieth the Text for these words and not any kind of works are not found there See Rev. 22.18 what his reward is like to be for if any man shall add unto these things God shall add unto him all the plagues that are written in this book But Pag. 64. he saith I shall here close this point with these conclusions First that no man that is a sinner can be justified by his own obedience to the moral Law Secondly that no man that hath offended the Law can be justified by his own satisfaction for his transgression But who denies either of those or to what purpose is all this unlesse as we said before to entertain his Reader with kickshaws But wanderers love extravagancies As to the first of these he saith that by the Law cometh the knowledge of sin Rom. 3.20 that is the Law accounteth all such to be sinners and accounteth them as transgressors and therefore they can never be pronounced guiltlesse by that Law which proves them guilty but every man is a transgressor of the Law to wit before grace and for some time after Rom. 3.9 Gal. 2.1 Joh. 1.8 11. and our consciences testifie it to our faces Therefore can no man be justified by his own obedience to the Law But what is this to the obedience of Christ in the Saints by which alone as we have often said they may be justified freely and ought so to be Secondly he saith that a sinner which hath once offended can never by any action or passion of his own make satisfaction to the justice of God for his transgression Yet can God freely remit thousands and millions of such transgressions to the converting sinner and the Law saith he being broken there is no way to be justified by the Law but by making a plenary satisfaction for the transgression which no sinners satisfaction can do because a finite act can never be a sufficient value to satisfie the offence that is done against an infinite goodnesse as also because all that we can do yea much more is required of us now that assisting grace is tendered as our duty to the Law or Law-giver and therefore it cannot be rendred as any payment for the breach of the Law Therefore saith he to conclude this point or truth we are not under the Law for the justification of our persons as Adam was nor for satisfaction of divine justice as those that perish but we are under it as a document of obedience what perfect or imperfect and a rule of living But not as we ought to do by his doctrine T is not saith he published from Sinai but from Sion but to whom is it so as a Law of liberty what to take our sleep and swing in sin and as a new Law not as a Law of condemnation and bondage Yes it is so published still to impenitent and unbelieving men 1 Tim. 1.9 knowing this that the Law is not made for a righteous man but for the lawlesse and disobedient And yet he saith Pag. 65. that the obedience is not removed yes by his doctrine a great part of it is but the disobedience thereof is both pardoned and cured But how perfectly pardoned but inchoatively cured by his doctrine for saith he the observance thereof is necessary as a fruit of faith but mark how enormously he speaks in the next words but not saith he as a condition of life and righteousnesse yet necessary necessitate pracepti as a thing commanded the transgression whereof is the incurring of sin not necessitate medii as a strict undispensible means of salvation the transgression whereof yes if it be habitual or final is a peremptory obligation to death But we have proved before out of Mat. 5.18 19. and Rev. 14.22 that this is required by Christ as the way to life by the necessity of a medium or means as well as of a precept especially of those that have both space and means to attain unto it in Christ And thus saith he of the former of the two last branches of the second position wherein I have clearly shewed as one would shew a small and remote object in a dark night that as no man can be justified by obedience to the Law nor the works of the best Christians cannot justifie them what not in Christ And now he comes to the last branch that we are only justified by the righteousnesse of Christ which being rightly understood we also maintain We beleeve and maintain saith he as the Scripture teacheth us what is that That we are acquitted and absolved from our sins and so justified in the sight of God by and for he should have said through the righteousnesse of Jesus Christ And so do we but not in his way and sense And though we have said heretofore that justification and remission of sins are two different things yet we would be thus understood that the pardon of sins in his sense which is to take away the guilt or obligation unto punishment and leave the corruption behind and justification that is to make us just holy and good or liberative
justification whereby sin is purged out upon which the pardon and removing of the guilt follows through the mercy of God and the merits of Christs death we say that these are diverse and dissentaneous things But otherwise as 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 is in the new Testament frequently to be understood of the dimission and purging out of sin by the Spirit so both in the old and new Testament by prayer remission and forgivenesse of sins both these are connectively and collectively to be understood because where the Lord is pleased to purge out sin and heal men of it he always pardons it or takes away the guilt and never takes away the guilt but where the corruption and fault are first put away Hence it is that not to impute sin as we said before is first to purge it by sanctification and then to pardon i◠as Psal 32.1 2 3. and Rom. 4.6 7. and where sin is so purged and not imputed there the righteousness of grace for the renewing of the same is freely imputed or given to the believing and obedient soul But this premised we return now to consider what he saith who first brings that place Rom. 5.18 As by one offence or of one the sin guilt or judgment came upon all men to condemnation to wit all that offended or sinned in that one personal Adam of theirs as he said before so by one righteousness or the justification of one the free gift came upon all unto the justification of life that is of glory for there is a two-fold justification the one of grace or the foregoing righteousness and the other of glory or the evelasting righteousness But wherein doth this Text speak for him or against us and our doctrine The second Scripture which he brings is 2 Cor. 5.21 For he hath made him to be sin for us to wit a sacrifice for sin and a patern and motive unto us teaching us how we should in him root it out that we might be made the righteousnesse of God in him first in grace and then in glory as we said before Where the Apostles words make farre more for us and our sense and doctrine then they do for him for there is not the least mention made in all the Context or any where else in all the Scriptures that Christs personal obedience unto the law without us and for us should become or be made our righteousness The third Text of Scripture produced by him is that Acts 13.38 39. Be it therefore known unto you men and brethren that through this man or Messiah is published unto you dimission or remission of sins and in him he that believeth that he is or may be justified that is purged from all things from which ye could not be justified or purged by the law of Moses Which Text makes so clearly for us that by way of warning we will adde Pauls next words Look to it or take heed lest that come upon you which is spoken in the Prophets Behold ye despisers and wonder and vanish or come to nothing for behold I work a work in the days of perfect sanctification a work to which ye will in no wise give credit though one tell or shew it unto you Acts 13.40 41. The words are cited out of Hab. 1.5 6. and imply also an heavy judgment to come by the Chaldeans or the enemies figured thereby which are the Devils His fourth Scripture by him quoted is 1 Cor. 6.11 And such were some of you but ye are washed but now ye are sanctified but now ye are justified in the name of the Lord Jesus and by the Spirit of our God And as other Scriptures made not at all for him but much more for us so this is clearly also against him shewing that washing from the act and habit of former sins sanctification by Gods Spirit and justification in in the name of Christ are one and the self-same thing as we further proved out of Titus 3.4 5 6 7. Rev. 22.11 and other clear places But here he saith that some may object and say this righteousness is Christs and how can a man be justified by the justice of another Unto the which he answers with some truth and some falshood that as sin is ours by propagation which we have often shewed to be false so righteousness is ours if we attain unto it truly by Christ by imputation But his righteousness which he here intends is onely such by putation and imagination And as Adam saith he derived sin to our condemnation which is one of his old Chimaera's so Christ brought life by his obedience to our justification Thus if many be made sinners by the disobedience of one man which if rightly understood is undoubtedly true then how much more shall many be made righteous by the obedience of man Jesus Christ Rom. 5.19 especially since the nature of Christ as he saith page 66. is far more divine then the nature of Adam and therefore is more powerfull in ability to work this effect to justifie us then Adams sin was to condemn us But as Adams sin without us and our conformity thereunto condemns us not so neither doth Christs obedience which is ab extra justifie us we speak of his active obedience and by his passive we have another benefit the pardon of sins upon our leaving of them and 1 John 5.11 12. saith he this is the record that God hath given us to wit eternall life to whom was it given to John and those in whom Christ was risen in the power of the eternal life and this life is in his Son so that he which hath the Son in that manner hath life and he that hath not the Son of God hath not life as yet that is saith the Vindicator he hath the righteousness whereby he bringeth us to eternal life But this is his gloss upon the Text and a meer dream and delusion and this saith he doth the Apostle most excellently shew unto us when he saith that God made Christ to be sin for us 2 Cor. 5.20 which we even now cited But he speaks no such thing as he aims at or dreams of for saith he as our sins were made the sins of Christ not by altering or transplanting them inhesively into his own person but by assumption of them imputatively to make satisfaction for them as fully and truly as if they had been his own inherent sins even so the righteousness of Christ but not his externall obedience is as truly made ours by imputation his inherent righteousness whereby he and we obey God is so as if we had perfectly fulfilled the law by our own personal and actual operation Prove this by Scripture Vindicator and you shall be made a Doctor in Divinity which you never was nor will be And therefore saith he justification is a gracious and judiciall act whereby he judgeth he should have said a judicious and moral a physical or metaphysical act of God whereby he judgeth first maketh
be the same in the end of the second Tome of his first book but in the first Tome of his third book having spoken of a three-fold sanctification or justification one of the body under Moses and another of the soul under the Prophets and a third of the Spirit in the new Testament he compares them to the three parts of the Temple the first to the outward court ot space the second to the holy and the third to the Propitiatorie And saith God counts him only just that hath his habitation in the said last steps or degrees of his inward Temple of holinesse The like saying he hath again in lib. anathematum Augustine serm 5. de Trin. cap. 8. which nature when it is justified it is transformed from deformity unto a beautiful form Idem lib. ad Sympliciam quaest 2. Because the purpose of God to justifie some beleevers remains therefore doth he find out these good works which he may choose into the kingdom of Heaver And there afterwards unlesse the mercy of God in calling men precede neither can any man believe that he may thereby begin to be justified and receive the power and faculty of operating good Et lib. de peccati meritis remissione cap. 10. we read that they which beleeve in Christ are justified by or for the occult communication and inspiration of his spiritual grace and in Psal 119. concio 26. Who whath wrought righteousnesse in man but he that justifieth the ungodly that is by his grace of ungodly makes him righteous and in Psal 98. Who hath righteousnesse in is but he that hath justified us Therefore we are wicked and he is our justifier because he works the righteousnesse in us whereby we please him and serm 15. de verbis Apostolicis He that beleeveth him shall not have his own righteousnesse which is out of the Law although the Law is good but he shall fulfill the Law it selfe not with his own righteousnesse but with that which is given from God himselfe for love is the fulfilling of the Law and from whence is that love diffused into our hearts certainly not from our selves but by the Spirit of God which is given unto us Cyril Alexandrinus lib. 6. de Trin. It is the heat of the Spirit who when he hath diffused love into us and inflamed our mind with the love of the same then we have obtained righteousnesse Greg. lib. 18. Mor. cap. 23. All the chosen ones of the imperial countrey are holy and just by participation of wisedom not in comparison of it they are righteousnesse and wisedome and the servants of righteousnesse and wisedom but that wisdome to wit Gods is the justifying righteousnesse and they are the justified righteousnesse Prosper lib. sent ex Augustino As there are two offices of Physick or of medicine one whereby the infirmity or disease is healed and the other whereby health is preserved so there are two gifts or effects of grace one which takes away the concupiscence of the flesh and the other which makes the vertue of the mind to abide or continue with us in respons ad cap. 6. Gallorum A justified man that is he which of ungodly is now made godly where no good merit or desert did go before hath received the gift by which means he may attain merit or work that what was begun by the grace of Christ may also be augmented by the industry of free-will the help of God being never set aside or neglected without which no man can either be a proficient or perseverer in any good Bernard lib. Sent. For so is justification fulfilled when we abstain from the vices for bidden and exercise the vertue or good things commanded By this time it is evident we hope that we are no innovators unlesse the Fathers of the Church the Prophets Apostles and Christ himself who have set forth our doctrine shall be counted such And it is no lesse apparent that the Vindicator is a veterator and one of those false prophets of which he speaks in his Preface whose study and labour it is to deceive poor souls yea if it were possible the very elect in which place he tels us more truly then he was aware that these are the times foretold wherein there shall be a falling away and a defection from the faith a forerunner of the great and terrible day For the doctrine maintained in his two positions by whomsoever first broached clearly decyphers a manifest defection from the faith which was first given to the Saints who looked for these two things only or mainly by Christ first deliverance out of the hands of their spiritual enemies and then to be so renewed that they might serve God without fear in holinesse before him all the days of their life Luk 1.68 and to escape the corruption of the world which came in by lust and to be made partakers of the divine nature 2 Pet. 1.4 To be by regeneration justified in hope to be made heirs of eternal life Tit. 3.4 5 6 7. who expecting eternall life have placed their Religion and Christianity in putting off the old man and putting on the new Ephes 4.20 24. In which Preface also he gives us a warrant for what we preach and write saying the glory of God lies at the stake as it doth here and truth is opposed he tels us that Gods people must not stand by with a guilty silence nor will we be silent God assisting But whereas he saith that he is neither of note nor noted by the unworthiest among the thousands of Levite we shall easily grant him the former but for the latter as he was never any of the tribe of Lovi but by intrusion and first in a mendicant and abusive way so if he had been one of that Tribe he might have past for one of the unworthiest of them by reason of his lewd life as no small part of his doctrine here is the scumm of ignorance and infidelity What he saith further that we in the publick congregation to wit at our second meeting did beat down the truth of his positions and seek to maintain the contrary he is mistaken it was to decry and overthrow the falshood of the same for we can truly say with the Apostle in our measure and degree 2 Cor. 13.8 We can do nothing against the truth but for the truth where notwithstanding he tels us that the points in controversie have been so fully and cleerly vindicated by the Worthies of our Church of which himself nor we ever saw any yet and by our yet living Clergie why did he then produce none of them that to any not puft up with spiritual pride admission of addition may seem superfluous and unnecessary then by his own words he must be convicted as one puft up with spiritual pride whatsoever his coadjutors are for he and they have made a large addition if any thing in this kind was extant before But whereas he tels us that many people have
shall reward evill to mine enemies cut them off in thy truth and 59.13 Consume them in thy wrath consume them that they may not be and let them know that God ruleth in Iacob to the ends of the earth and 71.24 My toung shall talkof thy righteousnesse all the day long for they are confounded for they are brought to shame that seek my hurt and 101.8 I wil early destroy all the wicked of the Land that I may cut off all wicked doers from the City of the Lord which is every Saint Jerem. 4.14 Wash thine heart O Jerusalem that thou mayst be saved how long shall thy wicked thoughts lodg in thee Psal 112.8 His heart is established he shall not be afraid untill he see his desire upon his enemies and 139.23 24. Search me O my God and know my heart try me and know my thoughts and see if there be any wicked way in me and lead me in the way everlasting and 143.9 10. Deliver me O Lord from mine enemies for I fly to thee to hide me with thee teach me to do thy will for thou art my God thy Spirit it is good lead me unto the Land of uprightnesse and of thy mercy cut off all mine enemies and destroy all them that afflict my soul Eccles 9.10 Whatsoever thine hand findeth to do do it with all thy might for there is no work knowledg wisedome or device in the grave whether thou goest and Luk 1.74 75. That we being delivered out of the hands of our enemies might serve him without fear in holinesse and righteousnesse before him all the days of our life Tit. 2.12 Teaching us that denying ungodlinesse and worldly lusts we should live soberly righteously and godly in this present world 1 Pet. 2.24 Who his own self bare our sins in his body upon the tree that we being dead to sin might live unto righteousnesse and 4.1 2. Forasmuch then as Christ hath suffered for us in the flesh arm your selves likewise with the same mind that he which is dead hath ceased from sin that he should no longer live the rest of his time in the flesh after the lusts of men but after the will of God Fifthly that when we were first converted sin had his death-wound contrary to Rom. 7.14 24. and 8.13 Gal. 5.17 Heb. 3.13 14. Take heed brethren lest there be in any of you an evil heart of unbelief in departing from the living God but exhort one another daily lest any of you be hardned through the deceitfulnesse of sin and 6.4 5 6. and 10.26 27 28 29 30. and 12.15 Looking diligently lest any fall from the grace of God lest any root of bitternesse springing up trouble you and thereby many be defiled 2 Pet. 2.1.20 21. Jude 4. c. for no sin hath its deadly wound till it be by the patience and Spirit of Christ wholly overcome and lest Rev. 2.16 and 3.10 Sixthly That all the guilt of sin and punishment is taken away though the pollution and corruption remains contrary to Prov. 28.13 Jer. 33.8 Acts. 26.18 this is to take away the effect and leave the cause in force and being hence it is that Hieronymus saith on 1 Cor. 6. Be not deceived thinking that faith alone sufficeth for every sin that remaineth excludeth men from the kingdome of Heaven as the Apostle speaks Gal. 5. how the works of the flesh are hurtfull which are these adultery fornication uncleannesse c. of which I tell you before as I have told you in times past that they which do such things shall not inherit the kingdom of Heaven But also saith he they pray sinfully who persevere in sin and desire that those sins of theirs should be pardoned or put away by the Lord which they themselves have not put away from them Seventhly they say that there is not any other active obedience or righteousnesse of Christ to be attained by faith then that which Christ works in his Saints for its contrary to Isai 45.24 25. and 48.18 and 53.11 and 59.17 and 61.3 10 11. and 62.1 2. Jerem. 23.5 6. and 31.31 32 33. and Rom. 4.11 and 5.7 18 19. and 8.4 Phil. 3.9 10. Eighthly that we are perfect in this life and complete by justification though not by sanctification where 's they are both one thing as hath been proved at large and while the one is imperfect the other is also Ninthly that justification lies in remission of sins or taking away the guilt of the same yet leaving the sin or pollution behind whereas justification taken in a liberative way is a purging and washing away of the fault and corruption in the first place as hath been proved out of Acts 13.20 and 1 Cor. 6.11 Tit. 3.4 5 6 7. Thirdly consider that the kingdome of God which Christ and his Apostles preached is not onely an inward kingdome Luk. 17.21 as it is a kingdome both of grace Rom. 14.17 and of glory also Rom. 8.19 Ephes 1.18 but consequently that there is an internal heaven of holiness and glory to be had and obtained by the Saints in this life Heb. 10.34 knowing that ye have in your selves a better and more induring substance in the heavens for so the words are in the Greek Text. As Paul also speaks of himself and fellow-Apostles whom God hath raised up and set together in heavenly places in Christ Jesus Ephes 2.5 6. this is that kingdome which Christ taught his Disciple to pray for saying ' thy kingdome come and which he and John Baptist published 'to be at hand Matth. 3.2 and 4.17 and which ' John saw coming down from God out of heaven Rev. 21.23 before whose coming all sin must be purged away for ' no unclean thing can enter into it Rev. 21.27 yea all the spiriteal effects of sin as the second day sorrow crying and tears shall be removed Rev. 21.4 Fourthly that they which know not own not nor witness this kingdome of God with the way and means thereunto were never sent of God to preach the true Gospel of the kingdome but do publish their own imaginations and traditions of men as the Vindicator and many of far greater note then he both living and dead both do and have done Fithly that they who do not believe that he God will avenge his elect who cry unto him night and day for vengeance against their spiritual enemies for the rooting of all out Luk. 18.1 7. have not the faith of Gods elect as hath been said before Sixthly we shall leave it to your serious consideration whether it be not the voice of the unbelievers and not of the Saints of whom it is said concerning the beast of sin which came out of the sea with seven heads and ten horns saying Rev. 13.4 and they worshiped the dragon who gave power unto the beast and they worshipped the beast saying who is like unto the beast who is able to make war with him Which interpretation concerning the beast of sin is not ours but