Of Nature and Grace, Book 2 · Part 4
Of the righteouſneſſe of Chriſt imputed vntounto, and not inherent in a Chriſtian man.
FArther, fitlie to declare how far remiſſion of ſinnes ſtretcheth, and in what maner preciſely Chriſts righteouſnes is rekoned ours, requireth the lōger ſtay herin, becauſe the aduerſaries hauehave enwrapped, & hedged in the matter round about with thorns, that an vnwary hād can hardly cōe to the truth without dāger of pricking. For of remiſſion of ſins,Stap. li. 5. et lib. 7. ca. 10 they hauehave made a raſing out of ſin quite, as if no ſinne remained at al after baptiſme: & of imputation,Rhe. Note. Ro. c. 4. ver. 7.8 they make a very imprinting of a perfit righteouſnes in vsus: in both pointes erring very wide frō the truth. For albeit the guilt of ſinne be remitted, and that no ſinne hath any ſuch ſting, as can wounde to death euerlaſting: Yet the full aboliſhing of ſinne is not in this life, but after death in the life to com. And albeit vponupon our effectual calling, faith in Chriſt (which is the gift of God) ſtraight way in conuenient time frameth a new by grace in Chriſt all our thoughts,Phil. 3.29 Concil. Mileuit. can. 3proineth our luſts, ſchooleth our affections, and ordereth a right the whole race of our life to a better courſe, and likewiſe although it be truly ſaid Chriſt dwelleth in vsus and we are his holy temples, & that we hauehave in vsus his righteouſnes, his, becauſe it procedeth frō his ſpirit, when we beleeue rightly & liue accordingly, yet that righteouſnes whereby we are iuſtified, is reſident onelyonly in the perſon of Chriſt, & is not inherent at all in vsus, for this were to make vsus not onelyonly his faithfull ſeruants, and obedient children, which is our dutie and muſt be ſo: but to make our ſelues very Chriſtes & Sauiours of our ſelues,And. ortho. expl. li 6. ca de iuſtific. if not in whole at the entrie of the firſt receauing him, yet in the chiefeſt perfection therof, in the end of our iuſtification, purchaſing it to be really inherent and perfit in vsus by meanes of deſerts.
The later Papiſtes,Rhem. not. 2. Rom. eſpecially ſince the councell of Trent hauehave moſt miſtaken our iuſtification, which when thy hauehave graū ted it to be fre, calling it a firſt free iuſtification, yet by glozing to & fro therupon, hauehave much alſo impayred the freeneſſe therof, and then in iuſtification, which is but one, being verie ill vnderſtood (as the mad-man thinketh he ſeeth two moones for one) they hauehave found out another in thē ſelues,Stap. lib. 10 cap. 2 Iuſtificatio imporiat ius ad vitā aeternam. which being made vp of good workes, muſt preſent them iuſt before the tribunall ſeate of God, and deſerueth euer laſting life, & this they call a 2. iuſtificatiō.
Verily we for our parts can not but ingeniouſly proteſt & confeſſe: we hauehave not ſo learned Chriſt, and herein nothing can comfort vsus more thē this, that we hauehave not bene brought vp in the ſchoole of Trēt by Andradius, or as auditors at M. Stapletōs feet at Doway, or els at Rhemes vnderunder our late tranſlatours there.
Our righteouſnes is Chriſt. We are iuſt in him, not in our ſelues. For his ſake our ſinnes are not imputed,Coloſſ. 1.20 but his innocencie is imputed. In him it hath pleaſed the Father to be reconciled.Eph. 1.7 And ſo ar al iuſtified freely by grace through the redemption which is in Chriſt Ieſus, both is in him, & by his means. But I ſay which is in him inherētly, & not cleauing to vsus. For the truth is, the womā is clad with the Sun in the reuelatiō: that is to ſay:Reuel. 12.1 the church is couered with the righteouſnes of Chriſt, the Son of God. But as a garment ſticketh not to the body, no more doth the perfectiō of Chriſt cleue or ſtick in the perſon of any Chriſtiā neither is he, or his righteouſnes,1. Tim. 2.6 foreign. or a righteouſneſſe in any degree in this life perfit imparted, or gotten, or purchaſed by any way of cōmixture & confuſiō, but he only is ours by imputatiō, the pay & ranſom of our dets, though we perſonally defray and pay no farthing therūto.
The ſonnes of men that meant to build a tower that ſhould reach to heauen, when they all ſpake one language, eueryevery one vnderſtāding his fellow in the ſame tongue, their worke went forward. For an vnderſtanding conſent is much to farther, either the euil intents of the wicked, or the godly indeuours of the good. Wherefore the Lord deſcēded & cōfoūded their tongues, that they might not all ſpeake with one lippe and language, and ſo was their building interrupted, and it came to nothing, the place receauing a fit name (Babell) of a deſerued confuſion. Our aduerſaries, whileſt they neſtle them ſelues, agreeably together in an opinion as it were legions of vncleane ſpirites in the boſoms of the ſimple, they beguile the ſoner, & the moe. But in this their building, wherby they would pile vp merits & works of deſerts, & morter thē together, in the lande of their owne fleſh, the top whereof ſhould reache vp to heauen, the Lorde coulde not ſuffer ſuche proude giantes ſo vngraciouſly to impaire his glory, & to hauehave their foorth, but by his prouidence hath deſcended, and diuided their languages, among them ſelues. One ſaith one thing, another ſayth another thing. Pigghius a chiefe maſter workman with his felowes, & M. Stapletō a fine builder after the newer faſhion with his mates, can not agree together about the foundatiō of the worke. Pigghius wil hauehave works preparatory, & deferring the grace of God,Lib. 7. cap. 9 to be the ground work. M. Stapletō liketh not that ſo well. Againe which way the frame ſhould riſe, and vponupon what pillers it ſhould reſt, they vary more. M. Stapleton would hauehave mans righteouſnes to rely and be in & vponupon mā himſelf. Piggh. being better ſkild, in this cauſe of more remors & hū blenes of mind miſliketh that, & ſhewes by manifeſt demonſtrations it muſt be otherwiſe. Yet Pigghius good aduiſe largelye layed foorth in this reſpect in his bookes, could not be heard in the conuent of Trēt, amongſt whom if any were wiſer & better then others, they were leaſt regarded,Seſs. 6. cā. 11 and ſooneſt reiected. But whether it were by reading M. Caluin, & in him the Scriptures of God fitly and forcibly applied, or otherwiſe God opening his heart by what and whom as inſtrumentall meanes I can not tel, certainly Pigghius letteth not to ſpeak the truth in plain tearmes, & concludeth it with euident & like ſound reaſons. M. Stapleton notwithſtanding ſtill buildeth his tower of Babel, without lime and ſand, or rather vppon the ſand of fraile and weake man, the fall whereof can not chuſe but be great in the day of triall.
Very well & wiſely (ſaith Pigghius) we are taught being void of righteouſneſſe to ſeeke it,Controuerſ. Ratiſb. 2 extranos without our ſelues, in illo in him, in Chriſt. Wherin if it be demaūded how & by what right I cā be righteous by the righteouſnes that is in an other:Iohn. 15.14 Rom. 5.19 A rule of the Law & a good reaſon in Philoſophy. Ariſt. Eth. l. 3. c. 3. That what a man doth by another, after a ſort he doth by himſelfe, and it is ſo accepted, except euer where a perſonall performance is required. It is eaſily aunſwered: by the right of friendſhip, wherūto Chriſt hath vouchſafed to accept vsus, cōmunicating, & laying all that he hath in cōmon vntounto vsus his frinds. And as by one mans diſobedience many were made ſinners, euen in the guilt of ſinne, then whileſt they were but yet in the loines of Adam: ſo by one man cometh righteouſnes vponupon al: and albeit we and his perſon be diſtinct, yet that which he the head hath paied for vsus the members of his miſticall body is as ſufficient, as if we the members had payd it our ſelues. And a great deal better it is, that ſuch treaſures ſhould be kept rather in the hands of a ſtrong and ſafe keeper, then of them who once had bene prodigal childrē & might be again, if their patrimony were deliuered them nowe in as ample or more ample maner then it was at the firſt.
This is once: harm there can com none by this doctrin, but good: For as the iuſtice and mercy of God, hereby is the more perfitly eſtabliſhed, ſo our righteouſneſſe is as well obtained, & likewiſe better cōfirmed in Chriſt our elder brother, vnderunder whoſe perfumed, & moſt fragrant & ſweet attire, & in whoſe abſolut perfection we appeare perfit before God, & receaue the bleſſing, as Iacob did in Eſawes garments, & not in his owne, at his father Iſaaks hands:Gen. 27.27 Ambr. de Iacob. & vita beat. lib. 2. cap. 2 Gen. 27.1 which ſtory S. Ambr. & others by way of all uſiō cōueniently alleadge to this very purpoſe, of mans iuſtification before the Lord.
Yea, but God is not like Iſaak in his old age, whē his eyes were dimme, that he will take one brother for an other, or impute righteouſnes to a mā that is not righteous.
In deede when we ſhew, both by the naturall propriety, and common vſe of the word Iuſtifiyng: that it doth not import any imprinting or an indument of any quality in a man, but an abſolutiō, as in iudgemēts & in the cōſiſtories of men, ſo before God,Stap. 2. prol in 5. lib. when we are abſolued, the reply is made, that God will not abſolue the vnrighteouſe man, and that he diſcerneth, who are who, well enough.
And who denieth this? we knowe and acknowledge, that ſo great is the ielouſie of our God, that he will not ſuffer the vngodly to take his * couenāt in their mouths much leſſe to enioy his bleſſings.Pſal. 5.16 * No vncleane thing ſhall enter the holy citie,Reu. 21.27 the workers of iniquitie ſhall not come nigh him,Luc. 13.27 for his face is againſt them, to roote them out. Thine eyes are cleare o Lord, & thou canſt not behold iniquitie.Pſal. 5.6
But what ſhall we ſay then? Shall I ſay, we are righteouſe, & that we hauehave no ſin? Of ſanctification ſhalbe ſpoken afterward which they blinde & confound with iuſtification.1. Ioh. 1.10 If we ſay we hauehave (not onelyonly hauehave had) but yet hauehave no ſin, our tongues will faulter, for our harts can teach vsus a contrary leſſon:1. Ioh. 3.20 or if our hearts be a ſleepe, God is greater then our harts. If he enter iudgement not with his enemies,Pſal. 130 but with his ſeruants, who ſhal abide it? who can aunſwer one for a thouſand?Iob. 9.3 who ſhal appear innocent, & be pronounced righteouſe.
The caſe is waighty, & requireth diligēt attention. If we confeſſe our vnworthines, health may ſeeme to be far frō ſinners. For the wicked ſhal come to nought, yea and their hope ſhall periſh. If thou dareſt deny thine vnrighteouſnes, then art thou the more paſt grace, and the deeper in ſinne. And yet as whē the Patriarks had throwē their brother into the pit, they went aſide,Gen. 37.25 and without remorſe fell to their meate, afterward their old ſinne, & vnkinde dealing, came freſh to their minde, ſo the fat hart that can not feele when he ſinneth, and how he woundeth his ſoule in ſinneing, the time ſhall come when it ſhall hauehave a liuely and a bleeding ſenſe thereof,VViſd. 5.3. and a ſentence accordingly.
Then, belike, whether we feele and cō feſſe our vnrighteouſnes, or elſe bragge & preſume of a righteouſnes, all is one. No, not ſo, for happie are they, that findeing their infinite defects, & innumerall wants, nakednes of good, and guilt of ſinne, therby come to that grace and wiſedom, by grace to ſeeke for ſupply of better things, and helps in him, that is able and ſufficiēt in this behalfe. Wherein an humble agnition of ſundrie our imperfections vnfainedly made from the hart, and truly in reſpect of treſpaſſes ineuitably committed euen of the beſt men, doth not repugne or withſtand, but eſtabliſh, as I ſaide before, and meruelouſly ſettle in mens hartes, and greatly ſet furth and commend the righteouſnes and grace of God, whereby we obtaine in Chriſt, that which is not in our ſelues: perfit wiſedom, true holynes, entire righteouſnes, and euerlaſting redemptiō. For look what he our mediator ſurely did in our names, and for our ſakes, that the Lord accepteth as done to him ſelfe, by vsus conditionally, that we ſtill rely vponupon him, truſt in his mercies, embrace the promiſes, renounce our ſelues, and leane to Chriſt.
The Prophet Eſay foretold what Chriſts office ſhoulde be,Eſay. 50.11 and was to do: that he ſhould iuſtify many, and by what meanes, by bearing & ſuſtaining their ſinnes, which he did vponupon the croſſe, when he made due payment for them & full purchaſe of that holynes, which he began at his birth, and continued in the hole race of his life, and finiſhed with his death, but declared more apparantly by his riſing againe. As the Apoſtle ſpeaketh to the Romanes:Rom 4.25. He died for our ſinnes, and roſe againe for our iuſtification. Who as in earth taking our nature vponupon him, became the mediator between God and man, ſo alſo now ſtill in heauen, he is remayning an interceſſour for vsus, to the father in our needes and neceſſities whatſoeuer. And this his continuall interceſſion for vsus, amongeſt other things doth manifeſtly declare, that which a good Chriſtians conſcience doth oft tell him of, eueryevery night, whē he goeth to bed, & eueryevery morning when he riſeth, and eueryevery houre when he thinketh on his ſo many duties, that he oweth to the Lord, that queſtionleſſe he hath not ſuch a righteouſnes in him, as eueryevery ſinneful Papiſt prateth of, but in deede in account before God, hath no more true goodnes, then proud men can hauehave, and howe much that can be, let the hūble iudge. But towching perfection or imperfectiō of righteouſnes more diſtinctly it ſhalbe ſaide in that which followeth.