The Imputation of Christs Righteousness, Title page 1 – Polemic 1
OF THE IMPUTATION OF Chriſt's Righteouſneſs TO BELIEVERS:
In what ſence ſound Proteſtants hold it; And,
Of the falſe deviſed ſence, by which Libertines ſubvert the Goſpel.
With an Anſwer to ſome common Objections, eſpecially of Dr. Thomas Tully, whoſe Juſtif. Paulina occaſioneth the publication of this.
By RICHARD BAXTER;
A compaſſionate Lamenter of the Churches wounds, cauſed by haſty judging and undigeſted conc…ptions, and by the Theological Wars which are hereby raiſed and managed; by perſwading the World that meer verbal or notional Differences are material, and ſuch as our Faith, Love, Concord and Communion muſt be meaſured by, for want of an exact diſcuſſion of the ambiguity of words.
London, Printed for Nevil Simons and Jonathan Robinſon▪ at the Kings-Arms and Golden-Lion in St. Pauls Church-yard, 1675.
The Preface.
Reader,
IF thou blame me for writing again, on a Subject which I have written on ſo oft, and ſo lately (ſpecially in my Life of Faith, and Diſputations of Juſtification) I ſhall not blame thee for ſo doing; but I ſhall excuſe my ſelf by telling thee my reaſons. 1. The occaſion is many loud accuſations of my ſelf, of which I have before given an account. I publiſh it, becauſe I ſee the Contention ſtill ſo hot in the Church of Chriſt, and mens Charity deſtroyed againſt each other; one ſide calling the other Socinians, and the other Libertines, (who are neither of them Chriſtians) and if I miſtake not, for the moſt part in the dark about one Phraſe, and that of mens deviſing, rather than about the ſence: But if indeed it be the ſence that they differ about, it's time to do our beſt to rectifie ſuch Fundamental Errours.
I find that all of us agree▪ in all the Phraſes of Scripture. And a Mans Sence is no way known but by his expreſſions: The queſtion is then, Which is the neceſſary Phraſe which we muſt expreſs our ſence by? We all ſay that to Believers, Chriſt is made our Righteouſneſs; We are made the Righteouſneſs of God in him; He hath ranſomed, redeemed us, as a Sacrifice for our ſins, a price; He hath merited and obtained eternal Redemption for us, that Sin is remitted, covered, not imputed; that Righteouſneſs is Reckoned or Imputed to us; that Faith is Imputed to us for Righteouſneſs, and any thing elſe that is in the Scripture. But all this will not ſerve to make us Chriſtians! What is wanting? Why, we muſt ſay that Chriſts Righteouſneſs is Imputed to us as ours, and that Chriſt ſatisfied for our ſins! Well; The thing ſignified ſeemeth to us true and good and needful, (though the Scripture hath as good words for it as any of us can invent.) We conſent therefore to uſe theſe Phraſes, ſo be it you put no falſe and wicked ſence on them by other words of your own: Though we will not allow them to be neceſſary, becauſe not in Scripture; (And we are more againſt adding new Fundamental Articles of Faith to the Scripture, than againſt adding new Orders, Forms or Ceremonies). But yet it will not ſerve: what is yet wanting? why, we muſt hold theſe words in a right ſenſe! What? yet are not your own deviſed words a ſufficient expreſſion of the matter! When we have opened thoſe words by other words, how will you know that we uſe thoſe other words in a right ſence, and ſo in infinitum. Our ſence is, that Righteouſneſs is Imputed to us, that is, we are accounted Righteous, becauſe for the Merits of Chriſts total fulfilling the Conditions of his Mediatorial Covenant with the Father, by his Habitual Holineſs, his Actual Perfect Obedience, and his Sacrifice, or ſatisfactory Suffering for our ſins in our ſtead, freely without any merit or Conditional act of mans, God hath made an Act of Oblivion and Deed of Gift, pardoning all ſin, juſtifying and adopting and giving Right to the Spirit and Life eternally to every one that believingly accepteth Chriſt and the Gifts with and by and from him. And when we accept them▪ they are all ours by virtue of this purchaſed Covenant-Gift. This is our ſhort and plain explication. But yet this will not ſerve: Chriſtianity is yet another thing. What is wanting? Why, we muſt ſay, that Chriſt was habitually and actually perfectly Holy and Obedient, Imputatively in our particular Perſons, and that each one of us did perfectly fulfil that Law which requireth perfect Habits and Acts in and by Chriſt imputatively, and yet did alſo in and by him ſuffer our ſelves Imputatively for not fulfilling it, and Imputatively did our ſelves both ſatisfy God's Justice and merit Heaven; and that we have our ſelves Imputatively a Righteouſneſs of perfect Holineſs and Obedience as ſinleſs, and muſt be juſtified by the Law of Innocency, or Works, as having our ſelves imputatively fulfilled it in Chriſt; And that this is our ſole Righteouſneſs; and that Faith it ſelf is not imputed to us for Righteouſneſs; no not a meer particular ſubordinate Righteouſneſs, anſwering the Conditional part of the new Juſtifying Covenant, as neceſſary to our participation of Christ, and his freely given Righteouſneſs. And muſt all this go into our Chriſtianity! But where is it written? who deviſed it? was it in the ancient Creeds and Baptiſm? Or known in the Church for five thouſand years from the Creation? I profeſs I take the Pope to be no more to be blamed for making a new Church-Government▪ than for making us ſo many new Articles of Faith: And I will not juſtifie thoſe that Symbolize with him, or imitate him in either.
But yet many of the men that do this, are good men in other reſpects: and I love their zeal that doth all this evil, as it is for God and the honour of Jeſus Christ, though I love it not as blind, nor their Errour or their Evil. But how hard is it to know what Spirit we are of! But it is the doleful miſchief which their blind zeal doth, that maketh me ſpeak; That three or four of them have made it their practice to backbite my ſelf, and tell People, He holdeth dangerous opinions; He is erroneous in the point of Juſtification. And his Books are unſound and have dangerous Doctrines; He leaveth the old way of Juſtification, he favoureth Socinianiſm, and ſuch-like: this is a ſmall matter comparatively. Back-biting and falſe reports, are the ordinary fruits of bitter contentious Zeal, and the Spirit of a Sect as ſuch doth uſually ſo work (yea to confuſion and every evil work,) when it hath baniſhed the Zeal of Love and of Good Works. Jam. 3.14, 15, 16. Tit. 2.14. And I never counted it any great loſs to their followers, that they diſſwade them from the reading of my writings (as the Papiſts do their Proſelytes) as long as God hath bleſt our Land with ſo many better.
But there are other effects that command me once again to ſpeak to them.
1. One is, that I have good proof of the lamentable Scandal of ſome very hopeful Perſons of quality, who by hearing ſuch language from theſe men, have bin ready to turn away from Religion, and ſay, If they thus ſet againſt and condemn one another, away with them all.
2. Becauſe divers great Volumes and other ſad Evidence tells me that by their invented ſence of Imputation, they have tempted many Learned men to deny Imputation of Chriſt's Righteouſneſs abſolutely, and bitterly revile it as a moſt Libertine Irreligious Doctrine.
3. But above all, that they do ſo exceedingly confirm the Papiſts. I muſt profeſs that beſides carnal Intereſt and the ſnare of ill Education, I do not think that there is any thing in the World that maketh or hardneth and confirmeth Papiſts more, and hindreth their reception of the Truth, than theſe ſame well-meaning people that are moſt zealous againſt them, by two means: 1. One by Diviſions and unrulineſs in Church-reſpects, by which they perſwade men, eſpecially Rulers, that without ſuch a Center as the Papacy, there will be no Union, and without ſuch Violence as theirs, there will be no Rule and Order. Thus one extreme doth breed and feed another. 2. The other is by this unſound ſence of the Doctrine of Imputation of Chriſts Righteouſneſs, (with an unſound Deſcription of Faith) ſaying that every man is to believe it as Gods word (or fide divinâ) that his own ſins are pardoned; which when the Papiſts read (that, theſe men make it one of the chief Points of our difference from Rome,) doth occaſion them to triumph and reproach us, and confidently diſſent from us in all the reſt. I find in my ſelf that my full certainty that they err in Tranſubſtantiation and ſome other points, doth greatly reſolve me to neglect them at leaſt, or ſuſpect them in the reſt which ſeem more dubious. And when the Papiſts find men moſt groſly erring in the very point where they lay the main ſtreſs of the difference, who can expect otherwiſe, but that this ſhould make them deſpiſe and caſt away our Books, and take us as men ſelf-condemned and already vanquiſhed, and diſpute with us with the prejudice as we do with an Arrian or Socinian? They themſelves that caſt away our Books becauſe they diſſent from us, may feel in themſelves what the Papiſts are like to do on this temptation.
4. And it is not to be diſregarded, that many private perſons not ſtudied in theſe points, are led away by the Authority of theſe men (for more than Papiſts believe as the Church believeth) to ſpeak evil of the Truth, and ſinfully to Backbite and Slander thoſe Teachers, whom they hear others ſlander: and to ſpeak evil of the things which they know not. And to ſee Gods own Servants ſeduced into Diſaffection and abuſe and falſe Speeches againſt thoſe Miniſters that do moſt clearly tell them the truth, is a thing not ſilently to be cheriſhed by any that are valuers of Love and Concord among Chriſtians, and of the Truth and their Brethrens Souls, and that are diſpleaſed with that which the Devil is moſt pleaſed and God diſpleaſed with. Theſe are my Reaſons, ſubmitted to every Readers Cenſure; which may be as various as their Capacities, Intereſts or Prejudices.
My Arguments in the third Chapter I have but briefly and haſtily mentioned, as dealing with the lovers of naked Truth, who will not refuſe it when they ſee it in its ſelf-evidence. But they that deſire larger proof, may find enough in Mr. Gataker and Mr. Wotton de Reconcil. and in John Goodwin of Juſtification, (If they can read him without prejudice). From whom yet I differ in the Meritorious Cauſe of our Juſtification, and take in the habitual and actual Holineſs of Chriſt as well as his Sufferings, and equal in Merits; and think that pardon it ſelf is merited by his Obedience as well as by his Satisfaction: To ſay nothing of ſome of his too harſh expreſſions, about the Imputation of Faith, and non-imputation of Chriſts Obedience, which yet in ſome explications he mollifyeth, and ſheweth that his ſence is the ſame with theirs that place all our Righteouſneſs in remiſſion of Sin; ſuch as (beſides thoſe after-mentioned) are Muſculus, Chamier, and abundance more: And when one ſaith that Faith is taken properly, and another that it is taken Relatively in Imputation, they ſeem to mean the ſame thing: For Faith properly taken is eſſentiated by its Object; And what Chriſt's Office is, and what Faith's Office is, I find almoſt all Proteſtants are agreed in ſence, while they differ in the manner of expreſſion, except there be a real difference in this point of ſimple Perſonating us in his perfect Holineſs, and making the Perſon of a Mediator to contain eſſentially in ſenſu Civili the very Perſon of every elect ſinner, and every ſuch one to have verily been and done, in ſenſu civili, what Chriſt was and did.
I much marvel to find that with moſt the Imputation of Satisfaction is ſaid to be for Remiſſion of the penalty, and Imputation of perfect Holineſs for the obtaining of the Reward Eternal Life; and yet that the far greater part of them that go that way ſay, that Imputation of all Chriſts Righteouſneſs goeth firſt as the Cauſe, and Remiſſion of Sin followeth as the Effect: So even Mr. Roborough pag. 55. and others. Which ſeemeth to me to have this Sence, as if God ſaid to a Believer, [I do repute thee to have perfectly fulfilled the Law in Chriſt, and ſo to be no ſinner, and therefore forgive thee all thy ſin.] In our ſence it is true and runs but thus [I do repute Chriſt to have been perfectly juſt habitually and actually in the Perſon of a Mediator in the Nature of Man, and to have ſuffered as if he had been a ſinner, in the Perſon of a Sponſor, by his own Conſent, and that in the very place, and ſtead of ſinners; and by this to have ſatisfyed my Juſtice, and by both to have merited free Juſtification and Life, to be given by the new Covenant to all Believers: And thou being a Believer, I do repute thee juſtified and adopted by this ſatisfactory and meritorious Righteouſneſs of Chriſt, and by this free Covenant-Gift, as verily and ſurely as if thou hadſt done it and ſuffered thy ſelf.
For my own part I find by experience, that almoſt all Chriſtians that I talk with of it, have juſt this very notion of our Juſtification which I have expreſſed, till ſome particular Diſputer by way of Controverſie hath thruſt the other notion into their mind. And for peace-ſake I will ſay again, what I have elſewhere ſaid, that I cannot think but that almoſt all Proteſtants agree in the ſubſtance of this point of Juſtification (though ſome having not Acuteneſs enough to form their Notions of it rightly, nor Humility enough to ſuſpect their Underſtandings, wrangle about Words, ſuppoſing it to be about the Matter); Becauſe I find that all are agreed, 1. That no Elect Perſon is Juſtified or Righteous by Imputation while he is an Infidel or Ungodly (except three or four that ſpeak confuſedly, and ſupport the Antinomians) 2. That God doth not repute us to have done what Chriſt did in our individual natural Perſon's Phyſically: The Controverſie is about a Civil perſonating. 3. That God judgeth not falſly. 4. That Chriſt was not our Delegate and Inſtrument ſent by us to do this in our ſtead, as a man payeth his debt by a Servant whom he ſendeth with the money. 5. That therefore Chriſts Righteouſneſs is not Imputed to us, as if we had done it by him as our Inſtrument. 6. That all the fruits of Chriſts Merits and Satisfaction are not ours upon our firſt believing (much leſs before). But we receive them by degrees: we have new pardon daily of new▪ ſins: We bear caſtigatory puniſhments, even Death and Denials, or loſs of the greater aſſiſtance of the Spirit: Our Grace is all imperfect, &c. 7. That we are under a Law (and not left ungoverned and lawleſs) and that Chriſt is our King and Judge: And this Law is the Law or Covenant of Grace, containing, beſides the Precepts of perfect Obedience to the Law natural and ſuperadded, a Gift of Chriſt with Pardon and Life; but only on Condition that we thankfully and believingly accept the Gift; And threatning non-liberation, and a far ſorer puniſhment, to all that unbelievingly and unthankfully reject it. 8. That therefore this Teſtament or Covenant-Gift is God's Inſtrument, by which he giveth us our Right to Chriſt and Pardon and Life: And no man hath ſuch Right but by this Teſtament-Gift. 9. That this, (called a Teſtament, Covenant, Promiſe, and Law in ſeveral reſpects) doth, beſides the Conditions of our firſt Right, impoſe on us Continuance in the Faith, with ſincere Holineſs, as the neceſſary Condition of our continued Juſtification, and our actual Glorification. And that Heaven is the Reward of this keeping of the new Covenant, as to the order of Gods Collation, though as to the value of the Benefit, it is a Free Gift, purchaſed, merited and given by Chriſt. 10. That we ſhall all be judged by this Law of Chriſt. 11. That we ſhall all be judged according to our deeds; and thoſe that have done good (not according to the Law of Innocency or Works, but according to the Law of Grace) ſhall go into everlaſting life, and thoſe that have done evil (not by meer ſin as ſin againſt the Law of Innocency) but by not keeping the Conditions of the Law of Grace, ſhall go into everlaſting puniſhment. The ſober reading of theſe following texts may end all our Controverſie with men that dare not groſly make void the Word of God. Rev. 20.12, 13.22.12. & 2.23.) 12. That to be Juſtified at the day of Judgment, is, to be adjudged to Life Eternal, and not condemned to Hell. And therefore to be the cauſe or condition that we are Judged to Glory, and the Cauſe or Condition that we are Justified then, will be all one. 13. That to be Judged according to our deeds, is to be Justified or Condemned according to them. 14. That the great tryal of that day (as I have after ſaid) will not be, whether Chriſt hath done his part, but whether we have part in him, and ſo whether we have believed, and performed the Condition of that Covenant which giveth Chriſt and Life. 15. That the whole ſcope of Chriſt's Sermons, and all the Goſpel, calleth us from ſin, on the motive of avoiding Hell, (after we are reputed Righteous) and calleth us to Holineſs, Perſeverance and overcoming, on the motive of laying up a good Foundation, and having a Treaſure in Heaven, and getting the Crown of Righteouſneſs. 16. That the after-ſins of men imputed Righteous deſerve Hell, or at leaſt temporal puniſhments, and abatements of Grace and Glory. 17. That after ſuch ſins, eſpecially hainous, we muſt pray for Pardon, and repent that we may be pardoned, (and not ſay I fulfilled the Law in Chriſt as from my birth to my death, and therefore have no more need of Pardon.) 18. That he that ſaith he hath no ſin, deceiveth himſelf, and is a lyar. 19. That Magiſtrates muſt puniſh ſin as God▪s Officers; and Paſtors by Cenſure in Chriſts name; and Parents alſo in their Children. 20. That if Chriſts Holineſs and perfect Obedience, and Satisfaction and Merit, had bin Ours in Right and Imputation, as ſimply and abſolutely and fully as it was his own, we could have no Guilt, no need of Pardon, no ſuſpenſion or detention of the proper fruits of it, no puniſhment for ſin, (ſpecially not ſo great as the with-holding of degrees of Grace and Glory); And many of the conſequents aforeſaid could not have followed.
All this I think we are all agreed on; and none of it can with any face be denied by a Chriſtian. And if ſo; 1. Then whether Chriſts perfect Holineſs and Obedience, and Sufferings, Merit and Satisfaction, be all given us, and imputed unto us at our firſt believing as Our own in the very thing it ſelf, by a full and proper Title to the thing: Or only ſo imputed to us, as to be judged a juſt cauſe of giving us all the effects in the degrees and time forementioned as God pleaſeth, let all judge as evidence ſhall convince them. 2. And then, whether they do well that thruſt their deviſed ſence on the Churches as an Article of Faith, let the more impartial judge.
I conclude with this confeſſion to the Reader, that though the matter of theſe Papers hath been thought on theſe thirty years, yet the Script is hasty, and defective in order and fulneſs; I could not have leiſure ſo much as to affix in the margin all the texts which ſay what I aſſert: And ſeveral things, eſpecially the ſtate of the Caſe, are oft repeated. But that is, leſt once reading ſuffice not to make them obſerved and underſtood; which if many times will do, I have my end. If any ſay, that I ſhould take time to do things more accurately, I tell him that I know my ſtraights of time, and quantity of buſineſs better than he doth; and I will rather be defective in the mode of one work, than leave undone the ſubſtance of another as great.
July, 20. 1672. Richard Baxter.
The Contents.
CHap. 1. The Hiſtory of the Controverſie▪ In the Apoſtles days: In the following Ages. Auguſtine and his followers Opinion. The Schoolmen. Luther: Iſlebius: The Lutherans: Andr. Oſiander: The latter German Divines who were againſt the Imputation of Chriſt's Active Righteouſness: Our Engliſh Divines: Davenant's ſenſe of Imputation. Wotton. de Reconcil. Bradſhaw, Gataker, Dr. Criſp, Jo. Simpſon, Randal, Towne, &c. And the Army-Antinomians checkt by the riſing of Arminianiſm there againſt it. Jo. Goodwin, Mr. Walker, and Mr. Roborough; Mr. Ant. Burges; My Own endeavours; Mr. Cranden, Mr. Eyres, &c. Mr. Woodbridge, Mr. Tho. Warren, Mr. Hotchkis, Mr. Hopkins, Mr. Gibbon, Mr. Warton, Mr. Grailes, Mr. Jeſſop: What I then aſſerted: Corn. a Lapide, Vaſquez, Suarez, Grotius de Satisf. Of the Savoy Declaration; Of the Faith of the Congregational-Divines: Their ſaying that Christs Active and Paſſive Obedience is imputed for our ſole Righteouſness, confuted by Scripture. Gataker, Uſher, and Vines read and approved my Confeſſion of Faith. Placeus his Writings and trouble about the Imputation of Adam's Sin. Dr. Gell, Mr. Thorndike, &c. vehemently accuſing the doctrine of Imputed Righteouſness. The Conſent of all Chriſtians, eſpecially Proteſtants, about the ſenſe of Imputed Righteouſness 1. The form of Baptiſm. 2. The Apoſtles Creed. 3. The Nicene and Conſtantinopolitan Creed. 4. Athanaſius's Creed. 5. The Fathers ſenſe: Laurentius his Collections: Damaſus his Creed. 6. The Auguſtan Confeſſion. 7. The Engliſh Articles, Homilies and Confeſſion. 8. The Saxon Confeſſion. 9. The Wittenberg Confeſſion. 10. The Bohemian Confeſſion. 11. The Palatinate Confeſſion. 12. The Polonian Confeſſions. 13. The Helvetian Confeſſion. 14. The Baſil Confeſſion. 15. The Argentine Confeſſion of the four Cities. 16. The Synod of Dort, and the Belgick Confeſſion. 17. The Scottiſh Confeſſion. 18. The French Confeſſion. Whether Imputation of Paſſion and Satisfaction, or of meritorious Perfection go firſt: How Chriſt's Righteouſness is called the formal Cauſe, &c. That it is confeſſed that Chriſt's Righteouſness is imputed to us, as our ſin was to him. Molinaeus: Mareſius, Vaſſeur, Bellarmine is conſtrained to agree with us. A recommendation of ſome brief, moſt clear, and ſufficient Treatiſes on this ſubject; viz. 1. Mr. Bradſhaw; 2. Mr. Gibbon's Sermon; 3. Mr. Truman's Great Propitiation. 4. Placeus his Diſput. in Theſ. Salmur. 5. Le Blank's Theſes: And thoſe that will read larger, Mr. Watton, John Goodwin, and Dr. Stillingfleet.
Chap. 2. The opening of the Caſe, by ſome Diſtinctions, and many Propoſitions: Joh. Crocius Conceſſions premiſed: Mr. Lawſon's Judgment.
Chap. 3. A further Explication of the Controverſie.
Chap. 4. My Reaſons againſt the denied ſenſe of Imputation and perſonating. The denied ſenſe repeated plainly. Forty three Reaſons briefly named.
Chap. 5. Some Objections anſwered.
Chap. 6, 7, 8. Replies to Dr. Tully; and a Defence of the Concord of Proteſtants againſt his Military Alarm, and falſe pretence of greater diſcord than there is.
Of the Imputation of Chriſts Righteouſneſs (Material or Formal) to Believers:
Whether we are Reputed perſonally to have ſuffered on the Croſs, and to have ſatisfied God's Juſtice for our own ſins, and to have been habitually perfectly Holy, and Actually perfectly Obedient, in Chriſt, or by Chriſt, and ſo to have merited our own Juſtification and Salvation. And whether Chriſt's Righteouſneſs Habitual Active and Paſſive, be ſtrictly made our own Righteouſneſs, in the very thing it ſelf ſimply Imputed to us, or only be made ours in the effects, and Righteouſneſs Imputed to us when we believe, becauſe Chriſt hath ſatisfied and fulfilled the Law, and thereby merited it for us. The laſt is affirmed, and the two firſt Queſtions denied.
I Have ſaid ſo much of this ſubject already in my Confeſſion, but eſpecially in my Diſputations of Juſtification, and in my Life of Faith that I thought not to have meddled with it any more; But ſome occaſions tell me that it is not yet needleſs, though thoſe that have moſt need will not read it. But while ſome of them hold, that nothing which they account a Truth about the Form and Manner of Worſhip is to be ſilenced for the Churches peace, they ſhould grant to me that Real Truth ſo near the Foundation (in their own account) is not to be ſilenced when it tendeth unto Peace.
In opening my thoughts on this ſubject I ſhall reduce all to theſe Heads. 1. I ſhall give the brief Hiſtory of this Controverſie. 2. I ſhall open the true ſtate of it, and aſſert what is to be aſſerted, and deny what is to be denied. 3. I ſhall give you the Reaſons of my Denials. 4. I ſhall anſwer ſome Objections.